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Farro with Parsley-Pistachio Pesto

Julia Nordgren
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Farro with Parsley-Pistachio Pesto

This dish was born like many of my favorite dishes - as an experiment from my imperfectly-stocked pantry. I happened to have a small handful of pine nuts, pistachios, and parsley on hand and wanted to make use of them. I pulled a few things together and the end result was delicious!

This recipe is truly just a guideline, so feel free to experiment with the contents of your pantry! There are so many varieties of herbs and nuts, that the combinations for a perfect pesto are endless. You will notice that this recipe does not have garlic. That is a personal preference of mine, but feel free to add a clove of fresh garlic if you like.

Parsley-Pistachio Pesto:


INGREDIENTS

  • ¼ cup of pine nuts

  • ½ cup of pistachios

  • 1 bunch of parsley

  • ½ cup of loosely packed basil leaves

  • ¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil

  • Juice of one lemon, more to taste

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place the pine nuts, pistachios, parsley and basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture comes together as a coarse paste. You might need to scrape the sides of the bowl a couple of times.

  2. Add the olive oil in a steady stream with the processor on. Pay attention to the texture – it will start to come together and thin out with the oil. Don’t overprocess – just get it to the desired texture. Mixing too much is rough on the herbs and will turn your beautiful pesto brown.

  3. Add the lemon juice and mix in until combined.  Sprinkle in salt and pepper to taste. I often add more lemon juice to make my pesto zippy and fun!

Farro:

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 teaspoon of salt

  • 1 cup of dry farro (I like Bob’s Red Mill Organic Farro)

  • A handful of cherry tomatoes,  optional

  • A handful of crumbled feta cheese, optional

  • Freshly ground black pepper, to taste


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place a large, heavy-bottomed pot with lots of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Add a teaspoon of salt. Add farro and cook at a boil for about 15 minutes. The texture will remain al-dente as the grain has a nice density to it.

  2. Drain and toss with pesto. Top with sliced cherry tomatoes and crumbled feta cheese. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Enjoy!