I made country style pork ribs with homemade barbecue sauce for dinner and decided to make a healthy grain with sweet potato for a side. Farro is a grain with a nutty flavor, it’s chewy and it’s a great source of protein. When cooking the Farro make sure your sauce pan is deep enough. First try it boiled over and made a mess on my stove. I got a bigger, deeper pan, transferred the grain and water to the new pan and it boiled over again and made another mess!  Now I know which pan to use next time.   Other than the twice messy stove the recipe was easy.

3-4 medium sweet potatoes

5-6 cloves of garlic

5 T olive oil, divided

1 cup semi pearled farro

zest and juice of one lemon (about 4 T)

1/2 cup curly leaf parsley rough chopped

1/2 cup mint rough chopped

 

 

Preheat oven to 425. Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Put sweet potatoes and unpeeled garlic cloves on a jelly roll pan and toss with 3 T of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and roast 30-35 minutes flipping once until tender.

While the potatoes are roasting begin cooking the Farro. Remember my messy experience and use a nice deep saucepan. Cover the Farro with several inches of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-35 minutes until tender. Drain and toss with remaining 2T of olive oil in a large bowl.

When cool remove garlic from their peels and smash with a fork.

 

Add the zest and lemon juice to the garlic to make the dressing. Add the cleaned and chopped herbs and the sweet potatoes to the Farro. Dress and gently toss the salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Best served at room temperature.

 

With the the nutty taste of the Farro, the sweetness of the potato and the freshness of the lemon and herbs this salad is very hearty and yet refreshing.   One recipe I saw for a Farro salad called for sprouts. I didn’t have any sprouts on hand but I think they would have been a good addition.