Chicken Farro Salad
Based off of the Summer Farro Salad by Jennifer Perillo (Food52)
Adapted to serve warm with cold tomato salad on top
INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken
6x skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
For the farro
1 cup uncooked farro
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 large red onion, sliced into half-moon shapes then cut in half for smaller pieces
For the salad
160g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into pieces
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Line a pan with aluminum foil and place the chicken thighs on top (skin side up if using skin-on).
3. Sprinkle the seasonings (including salt & pepper) evenly over top of the chicken and bake for 35 minutes or until juices run clear. Let it cool.
4. Bring the farro, water, and chicken broth to a boil. Reduce to medium-low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed. While the farro is cooking, prep the onion and garlic.
5. Once the farro is cooked, set aside to cool.
6. Heat a large non-stick pan to medium with the olive oil and add in the onion; cook the onion for about 8 minutes until softened and translucent.
7. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the garlic, cooking for about 2 minutes.
8. Add the farro to the pan and season with salt & pepper (to taste). Cook (stirring only occasionally) for about 6 minutes or longer, depending on your preference for the farro's texture (though careful not to let it burn). Let this farro mixture cool.
9. Pick the meat and skin off the cooked chicken into a large mixing bowl (discard the chicken bones). Add in the farro mixture and mix until combined.
10. In a small mixing bowl, combine the cherry tomatoes, basil, and cheese.
11. In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, red & balsamic vinegar, and honey, then pour over the tomatoes and cheese and mix to combine.
12. Serve the tomatoes & cheese over top of the farro mixture.
Tip: If you would like to eat this cold, feel free to combine the tomato & cheese mixture in with the farro and mix it all together. See tips below in NOTE #5 "The salad" if you are not serving immediately.
DIRECTIONS:
Makes 4 lunches
My Changes & Notes:
1. I added chicken.
This is a recipe I like to bring to work for lunch, so I added chicken to make it more filling. I use whatever I have on-hand, in this case bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. In the past, I have used chicken drumsticks with skin-on. For the chicken, you'll need:
INGREDIENTS:
6x bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (feel free to use boneless/skinless for a healthier version)
1/4 to1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Freshly ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Place the chicken (skin side up if you are not using skinless) on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprinkle the seasonings (including salt & pepper) evenly over the chicken.
3. Bake for 35 minutes or until juices run clear. Leave on the pan to cool while you prep and cook the onion & garlic (see Note #3 below).
2. I completely ignored the recipe's farro directions.
I used 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill farro and combined it in a pot with 3 cups of liquid (1.5 cups of low sodium chicken broth plus 1.5 cups of water). Go ahead and use low sodium chicken broth for all 3 cups if you wish - the only reason I didn't is because I ran out of broth.
Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to simmer. At first I reduced to medium low, but noticed it was not hot enough to simmer so I cranked up the heat closer to medium than medium low. The original recipe on the farro packaging said to simmer for 30 minutes, but by the end of 30 minutes there was still some liquid left so I turned the heat up to medium and simmered an additional 5 minutes.
I definitely did not cook the farro with the onion & garlic, but decided to use them differently. See Note #3 below.
3. The onion & garlic find a new purpose.
I used half a red onion (mine was quite a big boy) and sliced it into half moons. I then cut those pieces in half so they weren't as long.
For the garlic, you'll see a trend throughout my blog of me typically ignoring the garlic measurements and doing as I please because of my undying love for garlic. For this recipe, I finely chopped 4 cloves of garlic.
As mentioned above, I usually bring this to work for lunch; at work I find that I always look forward to a warm, satisfying lunch, which means a cold salad just won't cut it for me. So instead, I pan fried the onion & garlic, then added the farro. To see the detailed instructions, take a look at the recipe HERE.
4. Putting the warm ingredients together.
While the farro, onions, and garlic are cooling after being pan fried, you can go back to the chicken from Note #1 and pick off all the meat and skin into chunks (whatever size you prefer). I left my chicken pieces rather large and did not bother to make them the same sizes. I also tore up the crispy skin, which is arguably the best part! Place the chicken into a large bowl.
Next, I added the farro mixture and mixed it all up. Since I bring this to work, I packaged up this farro + chicken mixture separately from the tomatoes, cheese, basil, and dressing. See Note #5 below.
5. The "salad."
I washed and halved about 160g of cherry tomatoes, placing them into a small mixing bowl. I bought some pre-sliced fresh mozzarella that was so hard to cut into cubes as per the recipe, so I gave up and cut them into long shapes and called it a day. Originally I wasn't going to put fresh basil in here, but if you have it I highly recommend it. My mother-in-law happened to be growing some in her garden and gave me some yesterday, so lucky me! I cut up a few leaves and tossed it in with the tomatoes and cheese. Finally, I made the dressing (followed the original recipe exactly), poured into the small mixing bowl with the tomatoes and cheese, and combined (I used my hand, but if you aren't as barbaric I guess you could use a spoon).
NOTE: It's ideal to prep and combine all the salad & dressing ingredients just before serving; however, if not serving immediately (for example, taking these to work for lunch), here are some tips to keep it fresher for longer:
- Keep the dressing separate from the tomatoes, cheese, and basil until ready to serve (like in a mason jar, so you can shake it up before pouring)
- Don't chop up and add the basil until ready to serve, otherwise it will wilt faster
