Rustic farro soup

I walked into the family room on Saturday to find my husband watching Christina Cooks, a vegan cooking show on public television. Christina was rhapsodising about farro, which I now know, thanks to about.com, "has a long and glorious history: it is the original grain from which all others derive, and fed the Mediterranean and Near Eastern populations for thousands of years." Apparently it doesn't produce large yields and has been mostly replaced with more modern grains. Anyway, Christina was making a farro salad and was pouring on the olive oil and folding in heaps of fresh basil and stuff and it was all looking really good but, we're up to our armpits in snow and ice here, and seeing the fresh basil just made me mad. (I'm starting to get a little cranky about the weather.) She was urging her viewers to try to find farro even though it might be hard. Ken was really into it. I could see he was determined to make farro no matter what, so off we went to Whole Foods to do our part to keep the grain alive. As I was starting my second search of the bulk bins, Ken came running over waving a package of organic farro. Looks like barley, I thought.

After we got home, he went off to find another recipe that didn't involve fresh basil and I started to read the fine (very fine I must say) print on the package, and */%#, you have to soak the stuff for eight hours before you use it. Ken was not discouraged. He really likes Christina and wanted to do as she said.

Well. I've been debating with myself about whether or not to post this recipe because I've been pretty careful to post things that match the theme of "easy." This recipe is easy, no question, but it involves an extra step that means you have to plan ahead. Planning ahead is the part that's not easy. My husband pointed out that soaking something overnight isn't hard. And the result is fantastic, so here goes.

Ken made the soup except for the last part, and then was off to the airport, and I finished the cooking and had it for supper. I must say I was surprised by the incredible flavor. It's fabulous. Make this soup. You won't be sorry. I will also tell you that Ken made his own quick vegetable stock but you can use a ready-made version of low sodium stock.

Rustic farro soup (adapted from a Whole Foods recipe)
7 ounces farro (whole, not cracked, triticum dicoccum)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup carrots, small diced
1/2 cup celery, small diced
1/2 cup yellow onions, small diced
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
8 ounces mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1 cup diced tomatoes and juice, canned
1 cup dry red wine
5 cups low sodium veggie broth
crushed red pepper to taste
8 ounces escarole, cleaned and chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped

Rinse and then soak the farro 8 hours or overnight.

In a soup pot, heat the oil on medium and add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic and slowly sauté until the onions are translucent, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the mushrooms have released most of their liquid. Add the tomatoes, wine, broth, red pepper and soaked farro. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the farro is almost tender, about 30 minutes. Add the chopped escarole, salt and pepper. Simmer about three minutes (just enough to cook the escarole). Add the thyme. Serve piping hot.

note: Good news! I've been doing a bit more research on the Web and several sources say you don't have to soak the farro, and it will cook in about 20-30 minutes - one cup of farro to three cups of water. Christina herself says you don't have to soak it. In fact, I'm finding the information about farro to be quite varied. One site says it's a kind of wheat and another says it has no connection to wheat and is an entirely separate grain. Most sources say it should be firm and chewy, and the method we used for the soup produced a very soft (but very pleasant) result. All sources say that farro is a nutritionally superior food. Since this was my first experience with farro, I'm unable to be more precise about cooking it. I'll have to experiment with the rest of the package and see what happens. Please leave comments about your results or your experience with this grain.

Braised greens with tofu, cashews and raisins over polenta

Don't let the long title scare you. This fabulous dish is so easy to make you may find yourself standing around the kitchen looking for something to do. It's very versatile, too. You could leave out the tofu and polenta, for example, and serve the braised kale as a vegetable. Or serve it over basmati rice or rice thread noodles. I highly recommend trying the polenta, though. It's delish and serves four.

The polenta is based on a recipe from Passionate Vegetarian. The author says it's an old Tuscan peasant recipe. Here it is:
-1 cup course grind cornmeal (our co-op sells a bulk course grind labeled "polenta") or fine grind cornmeal
-3 1/2 cups water
-3/4 teaspoon salt
-1 tablespoon yeast flakes (not brewers yeast powder), optional but recommended

Oil a 3 quart oven-proof skillet or dish. Put all ingredients in dish and mix together casually.
Put the dish, uncovered, in a pre-heated 350˚ oven. Bake for 40 minutes, undisturbed. After 40 minutes, stir and bake 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for five minutes. Creamy, dreamy, heartwarming polenta. mmm.

I always make this polenta in a 3 1/2 quart enamelled cast iron casserole pan from Le Creuset. It's one of three pieces of this cookware that I own, and it gets used nearly every day. Because the pan isn't supposed to go directly from cold to hot, I put it in the oven when I turn it on to pre-heat, and start the timer when the oven reaches the correct temperature.



Braised greens with tofu, cashews and raisins
-1 pound kale (or other sturdy greens like mustard) I used a bunch of kale -no idea what it weighed
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1/2 pound extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon tamari
-1/4 cup cashews
-1/2 cup bread crumbs (one slice of bread should be about right)
-1/4 cup raisins
-1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
-one good sized carrot, peeled
-1/2 teaspoon natural sugar
-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (unseasoned)
-freshly ground black pepper

1. Rinse greens, remove thick stems, coursely shred and set aside.
3. Place the tofu cubes in a small bowl and drizzle with one teaspoon tamari. Toss to coat all the cubes. Let sit five minutes.
3. Heat one tablespoon oil in wok or skillet. Add the tofu cubes and cook over high heat until browned.
4. Turn the heat down. Add the mushrooms, cashews and bread crumbs and sauté until they are lightly browned. Stir in the raisins. Remove mixture from pan and set aside.
5. Add the other tablespoon of oil to pan, shred the carrot right into the pan, increase heat to high and add the greens. Stir to mix, then cover and cook about three minutes until the greens have wilted but are still bright green. (Be careful not to burn them.)
6. Reduce heat, stir in sugar and vinegar, and season to taste. Add the tofu mixture. Spread over polenta.

Sometimes I spread the polenta on a large serving platter and place the veggies on top. You can decorate with parsley and olives.

The whole vegetable part took about 15-20 minutes including prep time, so plan accordingly so you can have the veggies and polenta finish cooking about the same time. This part of the recipe is based on a recipe that I think is from the NY Times. I'm not sure though.

March 19 Update: I'm in Seattle visiting family and doubled this recipe to feed five or six adults with lots of leftovers. When I went to stir the polenta after 40 minutes, it was still liquidy. I panicked. Did I forget to double the cornmeal? Was the oven temperature wrong? Then I realized that of course, larger amounts of food require longer cooking times. Duh. After another half hour, it was ready to stir. In the meantime, I cut up all the ingredients and put them into little bowls, ready to go. When the polenta was done, I turned off the oven but left the dutch oven in there. Then I prepared the braised veggies, and I felt like a TV cook! You know how they make it look so easy in those TV kitchens by having all the ingredients in little dishes and just popping the stuff into the pan. Well, it really IS easy to have the ingredients on hand.