Grain Salad
I like to cook off a hearty grain like brown rice or farro and use it to make a warm or cold salad. It's a great starting point to which you can add any number of ingredients. My suggestions are as follows.
Ingredient ideas
- 2 cups cooked farro, brown rice, barley or quinoa
- A handful of raw greens such as arugula, spinach or kale, cleaned and coursely chopped
- Sliced scallions, shallots or red onion
- Chopped olives
- Goat cheese or feta cheese crumbles
- Sliced almonds, pistachios or walnuts
- Sliced cherry tomatoes
- A hard boiled egg, diced chicken or turkey
- Diced avocado
- Cooked corn
- Chick peas or other beans
- Marinated artichoke hearts, sliced
- Marinated mushrooms
- Roasted root vegetables like beets or carrots, diced
Directions
It's as easy as assembling, but as you add ingredients, taste to make sure nothing you are adding overpowers or conflicts with the other ingredients. You also don't want to add something too mushy as it needs to hold its own among all the other players.
If you want to add a dressing, a light vinaigrette will do just fine. I like to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil and mix with a 2 to 1 ratio with an acid (2 parts olive oil, one part acid), which could be lemon juice, balsamic, white balsamic or red wine vinegar. Mix in a cup vigorously with a whisk or a fork until emulsified and then add salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano. For an extra boost, add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard.
Toss salad lightly with dressing and serve.
