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Farro with Roasted Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese

March 14, 2010

This recipe for Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash is from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. I had it on my menu plan for several weeks, but kept putting it off — my loss, because it is wonderful.

I made this dish on Tuesday night, when I knew my parents and sister would be joining us for dinner. My sister is vegetarian, so I always enjoying finding new meatless recipes to try on her. All the adults agreed this is a winner. Farro has a flavor and texture that is similar to barley, though the shape is more rice-like and it is a little heartier. I could only find organic farro around here, and it was expensive — about $7 a bag. I can get barley for around a dollar for the same amount. While it was fun to experiment with this new-to-me grain, I would probably sub barley in the future.

I would recommend reducing the oil by half. I found the olive oil used to roast the squash, and the nut oil (I used hazelnut instead of walnut) the dish is tossed with later, were too much for our taste and made the dish feel a little greasy. And while the toasted walnuts are an integral part of the original recipe, I omitted them — my sister is not a fan of nuts in her food and I wanted to cater to her! While I think they would have been delicious, it is just a different but still wonderful complete meal without them.

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Filed under: Veggie Mains,Veggie Sides

5 Comments

1. Grammy | March 14, 2010 at 2:05 pm

Very scrumptious. The grain crunchy, onions cut so nicely wide, squash delicious and the goat cheese heavenly in this mix. It both reheats well and is nice cool. Then the roasted asparagus as a side dish, gorgeous!
2. chickinthekitchen.com &ra&hellip | March 14, 2010 at 8:38 pm

[...] turned out. Plenty of nostalgia with a lot less calories and sodium. I also finally made the Farro with Roasted Butternut Squash & Goat Cheese, which was great! I adore roasted butternut squash, and this is a simple, hearty vegetarian dish [...]
3. Jodi | March 16, 2010 at 7:04 am

This looks so good…I want to make this too!
4. Cristen | March 17, 2010 at 10:27 pm

Hey Dara!

Do you happen to have any good vegetarian recipes to share? Maybe some kid friendly ones? One of my students just decided to go vegetarian, so I wanted to share some info with her.

One of the easiest ways to make a veggie meal is pasta + sauteed veggie of choice (mushrooms, spinach, broccoli, etc.) + cheese of choice (feta, Parmesan, mozzarella, Gruyere, etc.). Also, omelets stuffed with veggies are great. Or just stir-fried vegetables over noodles or rice. And I am a big fan of rice and beans, too, with a little hot sauce — I used to make that a lot in college, because it is very portable and I could take it with me to work.

Also, look here: http://chickinthekitchen.com/category/recipes/veggie-mains/ Hope that helps! — Dara
5. Doug | March 23, 2010 at 6:02 pm

I’ve never even heard of farro. That looks really good! Where did you buy it?

Hi Doug, 99.9% sure I got it at Mrs. Green’s in Briarcliff. Hope that helps! — Dara