08.19.08
healthy summer salad: farro with purslane, fennel, and tomatoes
Update 8/30/08: The purslane, fennel and tomatoes came from my favorite farm stand at the QA market- Local Roots Farm. Love them!
The other day I came home from the farmers market with purslane, a vegetable I had never heard of before. It looks like a succulent (which it is, in fact!), has a slight lemony peppery flavor, and it’s leaves are very juicy. So I of course had to do a little research on this vegetable. It is like a miracle plant, come to find out- growing like a weed (some people view it as such), this stuff has the highest concentration of Omega 3’s of any green vegetable. People used to wear it as protection during the Roman empire.
If purslane is so awesome, how come we’re not all devouring it? Well, now I am. It’s making it’s way into all of my green salads and stir frys, and I thought I’d share the very first dish I made with purslane- this simple salad with farro (ancient wheat grain), fennel, and some gorgeous little sungold tomatoes. It’s also delicious hot, but I was wanting a cool dish on a hot day.
First, I cooked the farro (1 cup) in the pressure cooker with some stock (1 cup) (it only takes 12 minutes in there, versus 45 in a regular pot). As I waited for the farro to cool, I prepped the veggies : 1 bulb of fennel (diced), 1/2 pint of grape tomatoes (quartered), and stemmed 1 cup of small purslane leaves. They got tossed with the farro, along with some olive oil (best you’ve got), 1/2 a lemon, and salt and pepper. Chill in the fridge for a few hours, or if you’d like it warm, serve immediately. As an added fennel-y burst, I finely chopped a few of the fennel fronds and sprinkled them around the top. I had mine with some grilled sockeye salmon, but it’s fantastic on it’s own. I think I’ll be making this again for our weekend getaway!
