With January here I have been trying to eat healthier and when I am doing that I often think about salads, whole grain salads in particular. The combination of green beans and mushrooms are a favourite of mine whether I am simply sauteing them as a side dish or doing something more with them like making a casserole and I have had the idea to use them in a whole grain salad for a while now. Normally I would start a salad like this by sauteing the mushrooms and green beans but this time I thought that I would try something a little different and roast them both in the oven. Roasting vegetables seems to concentrate their flavours and make them even tastier and I was thinking that that would be the perfect way to go for this salad. With the vegetables decided the next component is the whole grain and there are a lot of choices that would work in this salad but I decided to go with farro. Farro is a really nice whole grain and I enjoy its earthy nuttiness and the chewy texture. For the dressing I went with a flavour packed homemade balsamic vinaigrette and I finished the salad off with a bit of feta though goat cheese or a mild blue cheese would also be wonderful.
Roasted Mushroom and Green Bean Farro Salad
A roasted mushroom and green bean farro salad with balsamic vinaigrette and feta.
ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup farro
- 8 ounces mushrooms, quartered
- 1 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup feta, goat or blue cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
directions
- Bring the water and farro to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the farro is al dente. about 20 minutes.
- Toss the mushrooms and green beans in the oil, thyme, salt and pepper and place them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Roast the mushrooms and green beans in a preheated 400F/200C oven until they start to caramelize, about 20 minutes, flipping them half way through.
- Mix everything and enjoy.
Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom Quinoa Salad in Balsamic Vinaigrette
Mushroom and Thyme Farro Salad
Roasted Cauliflower and Red Pepper Farro Salad
Roasted Eggplant, Red Pepper and Green Bean Pomegranate Salad
Green Beans in a Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Green Bean Casserole
Green Bean, Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Tart
Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Quinoa and Arugula Salad with Almonds, Pomegranate and Feta in a Lemony Tahini Dressing
Roasted Mushrooms in a Browned Butter, Garlic and Thyme Sauce
Balsamic Garlic Grilled Mushroom Skewers
Maple Dijon Green Beans with Bacon, Candied Pecans and Goat Cheese
Balsamic Soy Roasted Garlic Mushrooms
Roast Acorn Squash, Sweet Potato and Beet Kale and Quinoa Salad with Avocado, Feta and Pomegranate in a Cilantro Lemon Tahini Dressing
Skillet Butter and Garlic Mushrooms and Cauliflower
I've never had farro, but this recipe has me curious. I'm adding this to my list of recipes to try. Thanks!
Thanks for this delicious looking recipe! I love farro, and just bought green beans yesterday. Perfect timing. 🙂
Farro is so versatile and tasty. Your salad looks stunning and so good.
Cheers,
Rosa
Kevin, I just love your salads. Not only do they always look delicious, but you come up with these combinations that make me wonder why I never think of them myself, which I really think is the ultimate compliment — to make something look so easy that it seems obvious. Thanks for another wonderful idea.
Good dish. Salads are always healthy.
http://www.thegirlieblog.com
What is a Farro????????????
Grain, veggie, and feta salads are some of my favorite go-to meals when I'm looking to eat healthy. This combination of flavors sounds fabulous!
This salad looks great, Kevin. I adore balsamic and it must have been great with the roasted mushrooms and green beans. 🙂
What a simple yet fresh recipe. I am always on the lookout for 'different' salad recipe and this is it!
Hi Kevin, always I love como to here, love mushroom and look delicious:)
Great idea, muchrooms with farro!
Next time try farro with pesto, it's divine!
Have a great evening
This looks really nice. Where do you get farro in Toronto?
I am a veggaholic…so that looks amazing!!
I haven't cooked with Farro yet but this really makes me want to. Nice job, Kevin!
Great shot. The salad looks scrumptious!
This looks delicious. I'm going to give it a go for tonight!
Just made your delicious roasted bean, mushroom and in my case, bulger salad, and it was fantastic. It was perfect beside some nice roasted rare Pacicif Splring Salmon.
Thanks Kevin, keep up the good work,
K
Anne: I have been getting the farro at a shop in the lower level at the Saint Lawrence Market here in Toronto.
Looks both healthy and (surprisingly for a salad) hearty! Thanks for sharing!
I love farro! Talk about a super grain!This recipe reminds me of one I got from my the Whole Foods website that I put on my blog last week. It was for roasted balsamic mushrooms and quinoa. Yum. Great job on this recipe!
The salad looks so good.
I made this tonight. It was delicious!
This looks really great. I LOVE roasting green beans, but I've never thought to put them into a grain salad. I have a farro dish on the menu this week already, but I'll have to add this one to the list to use up the rest of my farro!
lovely pic, im a big fan of mushrooms but i have not seen farro before. looks vry healthy 🙂
stefanie: Farro (aka emmer) is a species of wheat similar to spelt. If you have trouble finding it you can easily substitute barley for it.
good post thanks 4 sharing
I love to prepare farro and I cannot wait to prepare this dish!
Where do I get farro? Made this with quinoa tonight and it was good but would love to try farro. Love your recipes
Jane and John Weichert: You should find the farro in with the other whole grains at your local grocery store. Otherwise, a health food store or Italian grocery store should have it.
Mind if I add this recipe to allrecipes.com? That's where I store mine and it helps me plan my shopping… I will reference your site in the footnotes.
I made this receipe with couscous instead of farro and fresh Rosemary instead of thyme, because I had these ingredients on hand and it turned out great! I look forward to having some left over for lunch tomorrow!
That's a fantastic looking recipe. I love farro and with it, I tend to stick with what I know. I need to try more recipes with it. Thanks!
So far I've tried three of your recipes Kevin and have never been disappointed! Please keep them coming! For this one though… I don't really like walnuts, would the flavor you were going for still be intact if I substituted almonds?
Anonymous: The flavour will change a bit but almonds will work! Enjoy!
YECCCCHHHH – yes, me too – I hate walnuts – thank you for the semi-thumbs up for almonds!!
Sounds delicious, Kevin! My boyfriend doesn't like mushrooms but I just might have to make this for me… hehe. Thanks for sharing!
I have had trouble locating the "farro" myself; I had seen it used on The FoodNetworks cooking channel. We live in a small town with no WholeFoods stores nearby and browsing the internet to purchase it seemed quite costly. I agree you can use another grain such as bulgar wheat or barley but I really wanted to try the farro and was happy when I saw it at our "Raleys" supermarket. It is made by the "Raleys" and says Italian Farro spelt; it also says pre-cooked but that could have been easily missed since it was in the ingredients. Says to cook only 10 minutes. It comes in a 8.8oz pkgs for about $2.99. Also an FYI: Farro has been around since biblical times and was a common grain eaten.
I made it and used bulgar as farro is impossible to get here. It was delicious, I never would have thought of roasting the mushrooms and green beans.http://lemonandcheese.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/roasted-mushroom-and-green-bean-bulgar.html I'm going to have a go at your roasted mushroom and (my nemesis) cauliflower salad next to see if I can actually like cauliflower!
Kev,
Believe it or not, I will make this for Thanksgiving! I love farro.
🙂
I found this on Pinterest and just made it last night. SO delicious–love the chewiness of farro and the combo of the veggies & thyme. Thanks!
¡DELICIOSA!
why is it you don’t supply the nutrician in each recipe. like i need the sodium count.