Recipe: Farro with Wild Mushrooms and Herbs

Happy New Year!

Start the new year off right with a healthy dish. (This is a great side dish.)

Farro is making a comeback.  It's an ancient grain that is finding itself on menus and in more and more recipes like those featured on the Huffington Post or the recipe we made the other night -- Farro with Wild Mushrooms and Herbs found in Bon Appetit Magazine's October 2012 issue (p.113).

I had never tasted farro until two months ago when our friends made this dish at a dinner party.  I loved the flavor and the texture and 'bite' of the grain that I wanted to make the recipe myself.  Seeking out farro wasn't so easy;  I finally found one and only one brand and type of farro at our local Central Market grocery store.

The recipe is quite easy to make.  Here are some tips:

• Farro is like risotto in that it expands and absorbs a lot of liquid.  If you're making this dish for 2 people, half the recipe, and you'll still have plenty of leftovers.
• I couldn't find semi-pearled farro, so just used the Central Market branded type as mentioned above.
• I made the farro according to the instructions on the package -- I didn't cook it in boiling salted water as noted in the recipe, but instead cooked it in chicken broth.
• I added extra mushrooms.