Farro Tabbouleh with Kale is a hearty herbal salad that includes a combination of Italian parsley and fresh mint. The flavors are bold and satisfying. The farro adds a nice chew while the kale wilts under the acidity of the vinegar and fresh lemon juice. The Mediterranean salad tastes delicious fresh but it will keep for several days in the fridge.
For this recipe, you will need Italian pearled farro, Tuscan kale, plum tomatoes, seedless cucumber, Italian parsley, green onions, mint, fresh lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and extra-virgin olive oil, and kosher salt.
Sometimes we can't leave well enough alone, like this Farro Tabbouleh Salad with Kale, Cucumber and Mint recipe.
It all started when we saw the original recipe, Kale Tabbouleh with Cucumber, Garlic Scapes but immediately felt the need to modify. Do you ever do that?
We do it all the time. This time, I suppose, one of the reasons was that we didn't have a clue what garlic scapes were.
First I went to my huge tome-- The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson He wasn't any help.
Then I went to our in-house expert, Mr. Google, and soon found out that I probably wouldn't be able to run over to our local grocery store and just grab garlic scapes out of the case.
You see, garlic scapes are the "flower stalks" of the hardneck garlic plants. And I also found out that the stalks do not produce flowers. Blah...blah...blah...there was quite a bit of detail.
I figured this was information was something I was never going to need. What information I did need was that I had to get a substitute because there were no garlic scapes to be had. So it was time to formulate plan "B".
Green Onions.
They're green like garlic scapes and mild. They're an aromatic --bingo. Problem solved! But as I continued to read the recipe I discovered something else as I read over the recipe.
The recipe called for bulgar. Authentic tabbouleh has bulgar in it. Unfortunately, our kitchen didn't have bulghur in inventory.
Hmmmmm!! ???? This would take a plan "C".
We like farro. We like its chewiness. It's Mediterranean and that's close enough to bulgar country, right?
Ecco! Farro Tabbouleh!
We had the rest of the ingredients for our farro tabbouleh salad-- cucumbers, mint, Italian parsley, and lemons.
What is regular tabbouleh?
- Tabbouleh is really a parsley salad with a little bit of bulgar used more as a garnish.
- It also has a touch of cinnamon, this is according to the food/blog expert David Lebovitz.
- Mint with a ratio of about one part to four parts of parsley.
- Spring onions work best.
- Everything should be chopped very small.
- Sweet spices which can be allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander, clove, and ginger. There is a Lebanese seven spice blend that is commonly used.
Farro Tabbouleh Salad with Kale
Well, it seemed like this Farro Tabbouleh was just going to be made All Our Way.
And as it turned out it was quite a tasty salad. The females in our family enjoyed it. Now the males in this family are carnivores. So, if a dish doesn't have meat in it or next to it or on top of it. Well, it just isn't a favorite but as a side they really liked it.
I know you'll enjoy the flavors of this vegetable combination. It isn't heavy on the parsley so it doesn't overwhelm the salad. I'm glad we ended up with plan "C". This recipe is a keeper.
📖 Recipe
Farro Tabbouleh with Kale, Cucumber, Mint
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup farro
- 2 ¾ cups water
- 8 ounce bag Tuscan Kale I got mine at Trader Joe - it's organic
- ½ cup chopped Italian parsley stems removed
- 4 Plum tomatoes
- 1 English seedless cucumber
- 6 green onions
- 4-6 stalks fresh mint
Instructions
- In a small jar, combine olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic and salt. Cover and shake to combine.
- Place the farro in a saucepan with the 2 ¾ cups water, bring to a boil and simmer until the farro absorbs the water. Cool completely. Cooking directions may vary with the brand so follow the package directions.
- Finely chop kale and parsley. Toss with 1 tablespoon of lemon dressing and massage for a minute or so. Leave to wilt slightly while you prep the remaining vegetables.
- Dice tomatoes and cucumbers. Chop the green onions. Toss the vegetables on top of the massaged kale.
- Add cooled farro to vegetables and combine with remaining dressing. Toss everything well.
- Finely chop mint and add to the salad. Taste the salad and add more salt if needed. You can serve this at once or refrigerate for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
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