Ingredients
- 1 cup farro (or wheat berries)
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans), or 1 can, rinsed and drained
- 8 ounces small potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled
- 4 carrots (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into 1½ inch chunks
- About 1 cup sweet onion, cut in 1-inch square pieces
- 6 ounces grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
- ½ cup red onion, cut in small pieces
- 15 sage leaves, washed and thoroughly dried
- Olive oil for the carrots and for frying sage leaves
- Lemon/Rosemary Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Directions
- If you’re cooking the chickpeas, start them first. Put 1 cup chickpeas in a large pot. Cover with water so there is at least 2 inches of water over the chickpeas. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let them sit, covered, for 1 hour.
- Drain the beans and cover with plenty of water again. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Lower the heat and simmer for 40 minutes. Add 1½ teaspoons salt and simmer until tender, 10–15 minutes more. Drain.
- (Or omit steps 1 & 2 and rinse a drain a can of chickpeas.)
- Start the farro (or wheat berries) after you get the chickpeas going for their second boil. Put the farro in a large pot with lots of water. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until tender but chewy, about 60 minutes. Drain when done.
- Steam the potatoes until just tender. Let them cool; cut into small pieces.
- Heat the oven to 425˚. Put the carrots on a small rimmed baking pan and toss with about a tablespoon of oil. Roast for 15 minutes. Stir in the sweet onion pieces and roast for about another 10 minutes.
- Cut the cooked carrots into small pieces.
- Heat about ¼ inch of olive oil in a small saucepan. Make sure the sage is thoroughly dry so it doesn’t splatter. Add the sage leaves (in 2 batches if it’s too crowded) and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove the leaves and drain on a paper towel. After they have cooled off, they’ll be a bit crunchy.
- Put the chickpeas, potatoes, farro, roasted carrots and sweet onions, tomatoes, olives, and red onions in the bowl. Crumble the sage over the salad.
- Gently toss the salad with about ¾ of the Lemon/Rosemary Vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt.
- Just before serving, taste, and toss with a bit of the extra vinaigrette if it needs more.
Lemon/Rosemary Vinaigrette
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon minced rosemary
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I needed 2 lemons)
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Directions
- Mix the zest, salt, rosemary and juice. While whisking constantly, slowly add the oil in a stream until emulsion forms.
- Taste to adjust salt.
