Area Attractions

Area Recreation

Hedden Family Recipes

Farro and asparagus

Ingredients:

2 cups pearled farro
salt
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends broken off and/or carrots
¼ cup olive oil, divided
Vidalia or yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 tablespoons parsley or sage or tarragon, chopped
1 English cucumber, sliced (about 1½ cups)
juice of 1 lemon
¼ teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
¼ cup tahini
½ cup feta
1 cup roasted walnuts
5 ounces baby arugula

Directions:

Farro cooking step:

Rinse farro and bring 6-8 cups of water to a boil. Add salt, then add the farro and boil until tender but still very toothsome, about 20-25 minutes.
Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces. If using carrots, peel and chop as desired. After farro has already cooked for 20-25 minutes, add chopped asparagus and/or carrots to farro and continue to cook until crisp-tender, about 2-5 minutes; drain well.

Sauté step:

While farro is cooking, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, add onion, shallots and garlic, and sauté over low heat for 8-10 minutes.

Dressing:

Slice cucumber into slices; chop up ¼ cup of these slices into small pieces.
Mix chopped up ¼ cup of cucumber slices, 3 Tablespoons water, lemon juice, white pepper, mustard, tahini, and salt to taste. Mix and set aside.

Walnuts:

Toast walnuts for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Be careful not to burn them.

Combining step:

Add cooked farro and asparagus to sautéed onions along with parsley or other seasoning, and stir.
Combine cooked farro and asparagus, rest of cucumber slices, feta, toasted walnuts, and arugula in a bowl and mix.
Cover with tahini dressing and toss.