Farro with Artichokes and Herb Salad

I really love farro and am always happy when I stumble upon a recipe using it. This recipe for Farro with Artichokes and Herb Salad is from the February 2011 issue of Food and Wine. It is similar to the Farro Salad with Winter Fruit, Pistachios and Ginger (also from Food and Wine) that I made last month. The best thing about this recipe is that everything is cooked in the same pot.

I followed the recipe as written, except I couldn't find any celery root, so I used two small kohlrabi in its place; I thought one carrot was paltry, so I used three; and I couldn't find Grana Padano cheese, so I used Parmigiano-Reggiano. The bright acidity of the white wine vinegar and the freshness of herb salad complement the farro and vegetables perfectly; without it, the dish would be one-note and disappointing. The farro and vegetables easily made five servings, but the herb salad barely made three servings, so I would recommend doubling the herb salad. I boxed the farro and the herb salad separately for leftovers and both held up well after a night in the fridge.

Chicken Parmesan with Pepperoni

So after my "more meat-less meals" proclamation from yesterday, I give you, meat on meat! Did I mention it is baby steps with MM?

I found this delectable recipe in the January 2011 issue of Food and Wine. I will admit that I usually shy away from recipes calling for the dredging and coating of a protein because it is kind of an annoying process.  It is time consuming to set everything up and then to clean the myriad dishes afterwards; I always make a mess all over the counter; and I hate that so much flour, egg, and coating go to waste, spoiled and contaminated at the bottom of the dish. But I was up for a challenge this week, so decided to give this a try.

If there is anything to take away from this dish, it is that panko fried in oil is delicious. Sadly, once you cover the chicken in sauce, cheese and pepperoni and then cook it, the coating loses it crispiness and becomes like any other slightly mushy breaded coating. Mushy or not, it tasted delicious and the chicken stayed moist. I know I have said this before, but don't count out the parsley as just a garnish; the fresh flavor complements the cheesy saucy bready chicken perfectly.

Another helpful note: line your baking sheet with foil. I did not, and poor MM soaked and scrubbed my baking sheet the entire night.

Farro Salad with Winter Fruit, Pistachios and Ginger

One of the BlB household's goals for 2012 is to eat more vegetarian meals. (I tend to shy away from "resolutions" because I feel like they are made to be broken.) As most of my loyal readers know, I ate mostly vegetarian this past year while MM was protecting our freedom in Afcrapistan. Now, I am trying to get my steak and potatoes husband to enjoy meat-less meals.

This recipe from the current (January 2012) Food and Wine magazine is a delicious starting point. The farro is hearty enough that it fills you up and it is more nutritious than pasta, which is the usual vegetarian stand-by. The citrus, dried fruit and herbs work wonderfully together. 

I was a little nervous when the recipe said that it made 6 servings, but that has to be side dish servings. I reduced the amount of farro to 1 1/4 cups (I generally find that recipes don't have enough "stuff" to accompany the pasta, grain, etc) and it gave us just over 3 main course servings. I would also reduce the olive oil to 3 tablespoons next time and add more cherries. Another note about farro: start checking it at about 20 minutes. I think I drained mine at 25 minutes; part of its charm is its chewiness, so you don't want it to be mush.