Farro & Carrot Risotto

This is one of those dishes which, despite being ridiculously simple, are amazingly good. I've been experimenting with Farro for a while already, and every time I come up with delicious combinations which are both healthy and yummy. This is actually my favourite kind of food, you can eat tons of it every day and it's still good for you. And as you know already, it contains very simple and cheap ingredients. But there's one important thing - use a really good natural vegetable stock. Try to find the one which tastes really good because it's really important in this dish. So if you haven't tried using Farro, I highly recommend to do it right now! This recipe seems like a perfect start, isn't it?

P.S. For this recipe, use pearled Farro. Whole-grain Farro requires longer cooking time - about 60 minutes.

Farro & Carrot Risotto 

2 tbsp oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1 large carrot (80g), shredded

4 cloves garlic, minced

500ml vegetable stock (with salt)

100g farro

1) In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add onion and cook over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes and then add garlic and carrot. Stir to combine, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes until onions turn translucent and lightly caramelized and the carrots soften a little bit. Stir occasionally.

2) Add farro and cook for a minute. Now start adding vegetable stock into it, one cup at a time. Stir occasionally. Repeat the process of adding stock as soon as the liquid gets absorbed. You might not need to use up all the stock - stop adding it as soon as the farro is cooked through. Cook for about 20 minutes until farro is soft and all the liquid is absorbed.

You could serve this with a little bit of Parmesan cheese on top.

Serves 1-2.

Recipe by collecting memories

Farro Bake

Here's another proof that healthy food can also be delicious. I like all kinds of grains but farro is among my favourites. 
This farro bake is very simple and maybe that's why I like it. The two bright flavours you basically taste is parmesan and tomato sauce. That's why I suggest using homemade tomato sauce. If it contains basil, oregano, onion, garlic - even better! If using simple tomato sauce, feel free to add herbs like dried oregano or basil. Just be sure you sprinkle enough Parmesan on top!

Farro Bake

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ tsp salt
300g/1 ½ c pearled farro
225g/1 cup tomato sauce (preferably homemade)
600ml/2 ½ c vegetable broth
60g/1 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese, divided

1) Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Prepare 20x20cm/8x8" silicone baking pan or lightly grease a metal pan.  

2) In a large saucepan, heat olive oil. Add onion, salt and garlic and bring to medium-high heat. Cook onions until they start to turn translucent. Stir occasionally. Add farro and cook for another minute. Add tomato sauce and vegetable broth. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and then remove from heat. Stir in 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese.

3) Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with foil. Cut a few slits in the foil. Bake for 45 minutes, removing the foil when it's almost done just to let the top darken. Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Recipe adapted from here.