Warm Balsamic Farro and Spinach Salad
with chickpeas / strawberries / blue cheese / almonds
This entree salad is just the sort of thing that makes us look forward to spring - fresh strawberries and balsamic vinegar give the salad a nice balance of sweet and tart. This salad was first featured in 2018.
Smarts: Savory, salty blue cheese adds nice contrast to the salad, but feel free to use any cheese you'd like - goat cheese or feta would be great alternatives.
Ingredients
- Shallots - 1 clove, diced
- Vinegar, balsamic - 3 Tbsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 1 Tbsp
- Honey - 2 Tbsp
- Oil, cooking - 1/2 cup
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Farro, pearled and uncooked - 2/3 cup
- Beans, garbanzo (14 oz / 387 g) - 1 can
- Strawberries - 1 pint, quartered
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Baby spinach - 8 oz
- Cheese, blue - 4 oz (sub feta or goat cheese)
- Almonds, sliced - 1/3 cup
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Farro - Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Give it a generous sprinkle of salt and add farro. If you bought semi-pearled or husked farro, it should take about 25 minutes to cook until al dente, tender but not soggy. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Balsamic vinaigrette - Dice shallots. Combine shallots with vinegar, mustard, honey, oil (the portion for the vinaigrette), and lemon juice. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Marinate beans - Drain and rinse beans. Combine beans with half the vinaigrette (reserve the other half for dressing). Marinate for at least 20 minutes and up to 3 days. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Strawberries - Quarter strawberries.
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Make
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil (the portion for the salad) and then beans (including marinade) and farro. Saute until marinade has cooked off and everything is heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Assemble salads by topping spinach with farro, beans, strawberries, crumbled cheese, and almonds. Finish with reserved half of vinaigrette at the table. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
41 reviews
This was tasty and easy to make...except that somehow my spinach didn't make it from the farmer's market to my fridge, so I just had to leave it out. Made for a strange salad. But it was still somehow a pretty solid meal.
0 HelpfulI absolutely love this. I cook just for myself but made 4 portions of chicken so I can easily throw together this meal for the rest of the week for lunch. It's way better than the salads from fast food places which is normally my go to for lunch. Great flavours, so fast and minimal prep & clean up.
0 HelpfulLoved the marinade/dressing and how much flavor it gave the chicken. Husband said he wanted this to be in rotation all summer.
0 Helpful