My favorite way to eat farro is with loads of veggies, nuts, and a hint of sweetness, either from dried fruit or like here, with fresh spiralized pears.
Farro is a hearty grain that was a huge part of the diets of the ancient Romans. Now, considering the ancient Romans built masterpieces like the Colosseum, I’d say they were properly fueled.
Today, I’m sharing a group-friendly spiralized meal that’s great for potlucks, having friends over for dinner, meal prepping, or for holidays, such as this upcoming Easter, if you celebrate!
Ironically cute story about Easter, first. My mother is Jewish. She wasn’t brought up religiously, but that was her family’s religion. On the other side, my father is Roman Catholic. I’m a pizza bagel, as I like to say! How was I raised? Pretty agnostically. Religion was never a part of my upbringing, since my parents weren’t at all religious.
Growing up, we mainly celebrated the Christian holidays, because my father’s side of the family was much more religious than my mother’s side of the family. My grandparents made sure we celebrated every major Christian holiday, and I even attended church every once in a while as a child, with my grandmother (which I always associate with a blow dryer, because she’d make me blow dry my hair and look presentable before going to church!)
Our Easter egg hunts, for example, were one of my favorite childhood memories. I hated getting dressed up in fluffy dresses, but I loved running around my grandparents’ backyard, searching for colored eggs with candy, toys and quarters in them!
Ironically now, my mother is flying up to celebrate the Easter holiday, although my grandparents aren’t in town (sadly, as many of you know, my grandfather passed away earlier this year – and my grandmother will be in Arizona.)
When I asked her why she wanted to celebrate Easter, she goes, “Because we always celebrate Easter!” And my father, once an altar boy, hasn’t been to church since he was an altar boy!
I laughed when my mother said she was flying up from Florida to celebrate the holiday, but then I realized what the holidays were to us growing up: a time to spend with our family. A time to love, a time to gather, and even though we didn’t always acknowledge the religious part of these holidays, it taught us values and lessons like the importance of family.
My favorite part of any holiday is the food. Well, eating the food with the people I love, more specifically. In celebration of Easter, I wanted to share a big large salad that could be prepped ahead, would save well as leftovers, and would look beautiful on an Easter table.
I used Bob’s Red Mill’s organic farro, which is my second favorite grain, aside from couscous. It’s perfect for making big side dishes, salads, or vegetarian-friendly main dishes. Farro has a great nutty taste that complements the sweet pear noodles and fluffy cauliflower.
Farro is easy to make – I never have to ‘watch over’ farro, like I do with lentils or quinoa. It just cooks perfectly, every time. It really does! So what does farro bring to the nutritional table and thus, in today’s recipe? It’s higher in fiber (hello, easy digestion!), helps lower cholesterol, is high in antioxidants, and is a substantial source of protein.
I love the grocery store in my building, because it has a giant wall of Bob’s Red Mill products, and they always have organic farro.
However you choose to eat farro, I really recommend it! And if you celebrate Easter or are having friends over, make this farro salad with spiralized pears!
Note: This post was sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. However, all opinions are my own, always.
Watch our video to learn how to spiralize a pear using the Inspiralizer and subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch more videos:
Nutritional Information & Recipe
Weight Watchers SmartPoints*: 12 points
*These points were calculated using the official Weight Watchers SmartPoints calculator. We are in no way affiliated with Weight Watchers, we are providing this information based on popular demand.
Farro, Roasted Cauliflower Salad and Pear Noodle with Parmesan-Lemon Dressing
Ingredients
- florets from 1 large cauliflower
- 1/2 cup farro I use Bob’s Red Mill Organic Farro
- 1.5 cups vegetable stock or chicken stock, if not vegetarian
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 large pear
- For the dressing:
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cook the farro. Rinse and drain the farro. Place the farro in a medium pot and add the stock to cover. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Once done, drain off any excess water.
- Meanwhile, place the cauliflower onto the baking sheet and add in the olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Toss well to combine and bake for 35 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender and browned.
- While cauliflower and farro cooks, make the dressing. Place all of the ingredients for the dressing in a dressing shaker or small mixing bowl and mix well. Taste and adjust with more salt, if needed. Set aside.
- Once cauliflower and farro is done, place it all in a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Spiralize the pear with Blade D, trim the noodles with kitchen shears, and place in the bowl with the farro. Pour over the prepared dressing and toss well to combine. Serve.
Recipe Notes
comments