TABELIA

AUTHENTIC RECIPE

Insalata di FarroFarro Salad

Farro Salad
Difficulty★☆☆☆☆ Prep10 min Cook30 min servings4

A nutritious Umbrian salad combining the ancient grain farro (spelt wheat) with vegetables. Its rustic, nutty flavor harmonizes with refreshing summer vegetables, making it suitable for lunch.

Recipe developed and reviewed by the Tabelia Editorial TeamUpdated
100/ 100

AUTHENTICITY SCORE

Authenticity Score

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Ingredients (4 servings)

  • Farro (spelt wheat)200 g
  • Cherry tomatoes200 g
  • Cucumber1 cucumber
  • Red onion1 onion
  • Fresh basil1 bunch
  • Extra virgin olive oil3 tbsp
  • Lemon juice1 tbsp

Method

Cook the farro

1

Cook and cool the farro

  • 1 Rinse the farro. Bring 1L water and 1 tsp salt to the boil in a pot, add the farro and cook over medium-low heat for 25–30 minutes.
  • 2 When no hard center remains but the grains are pleasantly al dente, drain in a colander, cool under running water and drain well.

Prepare the vegetables

2

Prepare the vegetables

  • 1 Halve the cherry tomatoes.
  • 2 Peel the cucumber in alternating stripes and cut into 1cm cubes.
  • 3 Thinly slice the red onion and soak in water for 5 minutes.

Combine

3

Combine farro and vegetables

  • 1 Put the cooled farro, tomatoes, cucumber and drained red onion in a large bowl.
  • 2 Add the extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice and toss everything together.

Finish

4

Season and let the flavors blend

  • 1 Season with salt and add hand-torn basil.
  • 2 Refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving.
A view of Castelluccio di Norcia
Castelluccio di NorciaItaly Photo: Fabrizio Lunardi · CC BY-SA 3.0 (resized; display cropped)

About this dish

In inland Umbria, fields of farro cover the slopes of the Apennines. Farro, a type of emmer wheat, has been eaten since ancient Roman times and has long sustained the tables of mountain farming villages.

Insalata di farro is a grain salad enjoyed as summer home cooking in Umbria. Combined with ripe tomatoes, basil and olive oil, it has been served at room temperature in hot weather for lunch or as an appetizer.

Almost forgotten for a time in the modern era, it was rediscovered through the Slow Food movement and is now regarded as an ingredient that expresses Umbrian identity. It is an example of an ancient grain returning to the modern summer table.

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