Fall farro salad with roasted squash, radicchio and apple

Name: Fall farro salad with roasted squash, radicchio and apple
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 2 -4
Ingredients: 10 1/2 oz butternut squash (300g, peeled and de-seeded weight); 1 red pepper; 1 clove garlic (left in the skin); 2 tbsp olive oil; 1/4 tsp allspice; 1 cup farro (180g); 3 tbsp pine nuts; 2 oz radicchio (60g); 1/2 apple; 3 salad onions (spring onions); 2 tbsp tahini; 2 tbsp lemon juice; 3 tbsp olive oil

February 21, 2016 by Caroline's Cooking 32 Comments

This fall farro salad is filled with delicious flavors. With roasted squash, radicchio, apple and more wrapped in a flavorful lemon-tahini dressing. Tasty, hearty and healthy. Perfect for a lunchbox, too.

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I don’t know about anyone else but I often find myself walking a fine line between repeating the same old favorites and trying new things. Not just in food, to be fair, I think it’s probably true of life in general. Certainly I get a bit uncomfortable with too much of the same, unlike my husband. I need to go places, I don’t like to have the same food two days in a row (unless it’s just as lunch, then I can cope). My eldest son seems to be a bit of a mix. He’s a typical toddler in that he clearly likes familiarity and is more comfortable with things he knows in all aspects of life, but he does seem to like to try new things. On his terms, though, of course.

As a result, often when I want to try something new I make it for my lunch first rather than test on him. It’s somehow more enjoyable not having to nag a toddler to eat at the same time or answer the ‘what is it?’ question five times. This farro salad was one of them. I made enough for my husband too and we both loved it, enjoyed in peace.

Cooking with farro

Somehow I haven’t cooked with farro before now. I’m not totally sure how that’s become the case, but I guess it’s partly I never used to see it. Even now you do have to hunt a little, it seems. However recently I’ve see a few recipes with farro that have looked really tempting. I knew I had to finally get round to trying it, and a cold-weather salad seamed perfect.

When I think of winter and fall salads, I tend to think of roasted root vegetables and winter fruits such as citrus, pomegranate and apple. But I also think of heartier salads that contain rice or other grains. This farro salad is a blend of both.

Farro has a lovely nuttiness to it that goes so well with roasted squash, giving a lovely contrast in flavor and texture. I have mentioned before that I like salads to have a range of both flavor and texture, and so with farro and squash as a base, I’ve added in apple, pine nuts, radicchio and pepper to give that nice range, as well as giving a lovely mix of colors.

One of my favorite autumn/winter salads is a squash and chickpea salad from Moro that has a delicious tahini dressing that I’ve made a version for this farro salad that goes really well with everything. It is relatively thick, but that means it grasps on to the farro and everything else well and you get some of the tasty dressing with each mouthful.

How to make this fall farro salad

Dice the squash and peppers, toss them and the garlic clove with oil and roast.
Roast until the squash is tender then let cool.
Meanwhile cook the farro then let cool.
Lightly toast the pine nuts, shred the radicchio and slice the apple and salad onions. Put in a bowl with the farro.
Mix together the dressing ingredients then mix through the farro.
Add the roasted vegetables, mix gently and serve or pack to use later.

Make ahead tips

One way to make it feel a little easier, as I did, was to roast the squash, pepper and garlic as I was making dinner, and cook the farro ahead of time too. Then chop the rest, make the dressing and assemble in the morning. In fact you could easily do the roasting and cooking of the farro a day or two ahead of everything else. Even once it’s fully made, the ingredients are pretty robust so this is a perfect salad for taking to work as you don’t have to worry about it wilting and going to mush.

This fall farro salad has such a delicious range of flavors and textures, it’s hearty enough to fill you up but doesn’t feel heavy. The dressing is relatively thick but is so full of flavor that goes so well with everything else. Plus, it’s so colorful, it would look great on the table as part of a potluck. Just find any excuse you like, it’s incredibly tasty and so good for you too, you really need to give it a try.

Try these other tasty fall salads:

Acorn squash wild rice salad
Beet apple salad with maple vinaigrette
Vegan lentil salad with roasted Brussels sprouts
Butternut squash wild rice salad with cranberries and fennel
Plus get more ideas for make ahead salads and fall recipes.

Farro salad with roasted squash, radicchio and lemon-tahini dressing

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5 from 1 vote