Arugula, Asparagus and Farro Salad

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Asparagus and Farro Salad from www.whatsgabycooking.com

Imagine Thelma and Louise but with food. Lots and lots of food. And wine. That’s basically the story of my life the last few days. Remember a few years ago when Aida, Lillian and I hit the road to drive from LA to Austin on a 5 day road trip that took up all across the southwestern united states where we stuffed out faces silly? (if you want a good chuckle, feel free to click through to that link and check out the fact that I look like a 10 year old going to a tennis tournament in Roswell NM) We at everything in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. I mean, it’s part of our jobs. So we had to do it 🙂

Asparagus and Farro Salad from www.whatsgabycooking.com

Well, now we are doing it California style. Lillian, who lives up in the bay area, flew down to LA and then we all hopped in the car and started off to San Francisco for this years IACP conference.

Typically the trip from LA to SF would take about 5-6 hours. We’re doing it over the course of 4 days. First stop was Ojai. We’re currently in Paso Robles. Then we’ll head to Big Sur for a night and finally we’ll make it to San Francisco. We’ve been eating our way through these cities and having a ball. Not to worry, I’ll do some On The Road posts in the coming weeks and give you the full run down of our favorite discoveries in each city including restaurants, hotels and any fun quirky things we do on the side.

In order to prep for this road trip, there were a lot of salads in my life. And post road trip, you can bet there will be some more salads and detox in my life.

My most recent farmers market excursion ended with me coming home with about 10 bunches of asparagus and a boat load of basil. Clearly that meant one thing, Arugula, Asparagus and Farro Salad (with pesto) was destined for dinner. Thomas, my recently high cholesterol diagnosed husband, has decided that farro is his favorite grain. I was hoping he would go for quinoa, but apparently farro is more his jam. So needless to say, this salad has gone into the regular rotation. Sometimes, if I’m feeling extra jazzy, I’ll add in some grilled shrimp or chicken.

I also threw in some super delicious tomatoes and some freshly made basil spinach pesto. All in all this was a crazy healthy and flavor packed salad. And I’ll absolutely be needing some of this, in high doses, when I return from my road trip with a few of my fav ladies.

Arugula, Asparagus and Farro Salad

When you come home from the farmer's market with bunches of asparagus and a boat load of basil make this pesto, arugula, asparagus, and farro salad.
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Course Salad
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup farro
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 shallot thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 1/2 cup spinach basil pesto recipe link above
  • 3 handfuls arugula
  • 2 large tomatoes
  • kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions
 

  • Cook the farro according to the package directions. Once fully cooked, drain any excess water and set the farro aside to slightly cool.
  • In a medium saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the shallots and saute for 2-3 minutes until just translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the asparagus and saute until just tender but still slightly crisp in the center, about 4 minutes. Season the asparagus with salt and pepper.
  • In a large bowl, toss together the cooked farro, asparagus, pesto, arugula and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.

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