Farro Salad with Sugar Snaps, Spring Peas and Meyer Lemon
Welcome spring with this eye-catching salad that combines garden-fresh English peas and sugar snaps with Italian farro, a hearty whole grain. Bits of diced Meyer lemon add a refreshing tang and brighten the flavor. To blanch the vegetables, add them to a pot of boiling salted water for 1 minute, then transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels.
Ingredients:
- 7 Tbs. (3 1/2 fl. oz./105 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cups (12 oz./375 g) farro
- 3 1/2 cups (28 fl. oz./875 ml) water
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 2 Meyer lemons
- 3 Tbs. chopped fresh dill
- 1/2 lb. (250 g) sugar snap peas, trimmed, blanched and halved
on the bias - 1 cup (5 oz./155 g) shelled English peas, blanched
- Freshly ground pepper, to taste
- Crumbled feta cheese for serving (optional)
Directions:
In a saucepan over medium-high heat, warm 1 Tbs. of the olive oil. Add the farro and toast, stirring, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Season with salt, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the farro is tender, about 18 minutes. Drain through a fine-mesh sieve, then spread the farro in a thin layer on a baking sheet and let cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, zest the lemons and set the zest aside. Working over a bowl, segment the lemons, reserving the juice. Squeeze the juice from the peels and the remaining pulp. Strain the juice; you should have 3 to 4 Tbs. Cut the lemon segments into small dice.
In a small bowl, whisk together 3 Tbs. of the lemon juice with the remaining 6 Tbs. olive oil and the dill.
In a large bowl, toss together the farro, sugar snaps peas, English peas, lemon segments, lemon zest and vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with feta cheese and serve. Serves 6 to 8.
Williams-Sonoma Kitchen