Farro Niçoise

Farro Niçoise
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(506)
Comments
Read comments

There is one mistake many of us make, cooking grain salads: we play down everything but the grains. A pile of cold brown rice with a few chopped vegetables and some soy sauce or a mound of wheat berries with vinaigrette is about as one-dimensional as it gets. This niçoise salad turns that problem on its head, with tuna used in a powerful vinaigrette tossed with farro. Farro is interesting because it’s relatively fast-cooking for a whole grain, but any hearty grain could take its place: one of the many “brown” rices, spelt, kamut, wheat. Whichever you use, the results are nutty and sublime.

Featured in: The Whole Story

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe
  • Print Options


Advertisement


Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • 1cup farro
  • Salt
  • 1pound green beans, trimmed
  • 3anchovy fillets
  • cup olive oil, plus more if needed
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of 2 lemons, plus more if needed
  • 1teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 1shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1tablespoon capers
  • 16-ounce can good tuna in olive oil
  • ½cup parsley leaves
  • Ground black pepper
  • 3ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
  • 4hard-cooked eggs, halved
  • ½cup niçoise or other black olives
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

566 calories; 30 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 18 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 53 grams carbohydrates; 12 grams dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 29 grams protein; 1069 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put the farro and a large pinch salt in a medium saucepan with water to cover by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the farro is tender but still has bite, 20 to 30 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep the grains covered; if any liquid remains by the time the farro is tender, strain it out.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, bring another medium pan of water to a boil and salt it. Add the green beans and cook until bright green and crisp-tender, 2 minutes or so, then plunge them into a bowl of ice water or run under cold water to cool them.

  3. Step 3

    Put the anchovies, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, mustard, shallot and capers in a food processor and purée. Chop the tuna and parsley by hand and mix them in. (Alternatively, add the parsley to the food processor and pulse to chop, then add the tuna and pulse, once or twice, to blend. Don’t purée the tuna but chop it well.) The mixture should be pourable; if it isn’t, add lemon juice, olive oil or water to thin a bit. Add pepper, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

  4. Step 4

    Toss the farro, warm, with about half the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and pile it on a platter. Arrange the green beans, tomatoes, eggs and olives around the farro, as artfully as you like. Drizzle the remaining dressing over them and serve.

Ratings

5 out of 5
506 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

By "good tuna" I hope Mark means Italian Tuna. Do not even try this with Bumble Bee. Get the Italian Tuna in (preferably) a jar or can. It makes this dish. You can't get away with anything but the freshest and best ingredients in this dish. I've served it at a dinner party, luncheon, bookclub meeting and just me. Healthy and delicious. In Italy they serve Farro as a salad often in the summer. This makes it a great complete meal.

Wow, what a great idea, and the tuna becomes an accent instead of big dry chunks. I like to chunk or puree the olives then blend in aioli as a thicker topping for the tuna, egg & tomato, rather than an acidic dressing.

We love anything Niçoise and we love farro so this exceeded my expectations. We had gorgeous fresh tuna from Costco so I sushi-seared that and sliced it onto the platter. The thing I love about Niçoise is that it’s so NOT labor-intensive: most of the work can be done ahead. Mixing a portion of the dressing into the warm chewy farro took it to another level, and I drizzled some of the dressing over the other components. The leftover farro, tomatoes and beans are ready for lunch another day.

Absolutely fabulous. I considered many of the comments and made the following adjustments to my dressing. I doubled it. I reduced the amount of lemon and lemon rind. I had excellent quality tuna and I chopped up a small amount and added it to the blender. Also blended in basil instead of parsley. Just delicious. It was pourable and the flavors melded so well but were not overwhelming. Laid out the rest of the tuna with the other ingredients on the platter. Definitely a keeper will make it again.

Turned this into 4 jar salads by adding a little spring mix from the farmers market. I also had some tinned mackerel that i added in with the anchovies, it's delicious and I'm looking forward to my lunches this week!

I've made this twice now with very good Italian tinned tuna! It is a winner!

Private comments are only visible to you.

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.