After a
wonderful visit from my family, I am completely full of Bavarian food.
I've had
more than my fair share of Spätzle, Würstl, Schnitzel, Knödeln, Brezen...
too much! It was good to
cook a veggie-rich dinner tonight :-)
Cooking
for one person is a little less than rewarding for the most part. It can feel
like a waste to pour all of your effort into a fancy meal when you are the only
one who will enjoy it. Therefore,
meat has become a luxury and things like pasta have become the norm. Normal spaghetti noodles, penne and the
like, however, can get quite boring and it's not so healthy. I read a lot of Heidi Swanson's blog,
101 Cookbooks, and have seen Farro pop up a few times. I finally decided to give it a
try. After many a disappointing
trip to the market due to the language barrier (food vocab can be difficult!) I
checked for the translation (and to make sure it would be available over here)
and set off to purchase "Dinkel." It looks a little like brown rice but it's the full form of
the wheat grain. It's nutritional
value is much higher than that of normal pasta; it's a whole grain so the
vitamins have not been stripped away. It's a good source of complex carbs as
well as fiber and protein. It
soaks up more liquid than rice and has a nuttier flavor. It's great mixed with veggies like I
did or I have also read to use it for soups or salads.
Farro is
pretty easy to prepare. For best results soak it overnight or as longs a
possible. For a still delicious
spontaneous Farro-meal, don't worry about the soaking. It will be a little more crunchy but
will cook properly, no problem.
General
Farro prep:
For one
cup of Farro use about 2 1/2 cups of salted water, boil the farro and water
together and reduce to a simmer.
Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, until most of the liquid has been
absorbed and the farro is soft. It
will be soft, but it has a little bit of a bite, more so than rice or other
grains I have tried.
Zucchini-Eggplant Farro
source: original
recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup
(185g) of Farro, soaked if possible
1/2 cup
(1 dl) milk (optional) with 2 cups (4dl) salted water
2 tbsp
olive oil
2 cloves
of garlic, minced
1 medium
onion, diced
about 1/4
cup slivered almonds (more or less to your preference)
1
zucchini, cut into bite sized pieces
1
eggplant, cut into bite sized pieces
one
tomato, diced
about 1/2
of a normal sized block of feta, crumbled
fresh
lemon juice
salt and
pepper
Cook the
farro as described above. I used a
little bit of milk with the water to cook mine, just as an experiment, I really
liked it! I think buttermilk would be even better.
As your
farro is simmering, prepare the veggies.
Heat the
oil in a medium pan and add the garlic, onion, and almonds. Add a little salt
to bring out the flavor of the onions. Sautée about 5-7 minutes, until
lightly browned.
Add the
zucchini, eggplant and tomato and cook until tender.
Drain the
farro if there is any liquid left.
Add the cooked farro to the sautée pan with the feta and combine. Finish with a little bit of lemon juice, salt and fresh
pepper and enjoy!!
I really
liked this dinner! It's healthy,
filling and delish! It was very
easy to prepare and it's something that is very open to variation. You can swap veggies pretty freely
(possibly asparagus??), swap the almonds for another nut, add a little bit of
wine, etc.
I wish
you all a splendid New Year. Einen guten Rutsch ins Neujahr!
Guten Appetit!
No comments:
Post a Comment