Tuna Farro Salad

We are down to the last hours before the first holiday weekend of Summer 2015, and if you are in charge of the eats, I’m thinking you have your main course all ready to roll.  My dad’s recipe for Coca-Cola Ribs has moved into the first place position on this site as folks get ready to fire up the grill.  But if you are still working on ideas for fun and festive sides, I’m here to put in my vote for this delectable tuna farro salad.  Hearty, healthy and a good alternative if you have any non-meat-eaters in the crowds, and it stars my all-time favorite grain, the scrumptious farro.  And while you CAN sub in other grains (more on that later), if you haven’t tried the deliciousness that is farro, here’s your chance!

I tried farro a while back purely because I saw this bag somewhere and I fell in love with the look of it.  This happens to me sometimes.  Sometimes it doesn’t work out – sometimes it does!

When I opened it up, it was full of what looked like a cross between rice and barley…

But it cooks up to have a wonderful, nutty, chewy, one of a kind taste and texture that made me forget all about rice and barley.  That being said, either one of those would work perfectly well in this salad.  But if you can find farro, and more and more supermarkets are stocking it – give it a whirl.  It may rock your world, grain-wise.

The other thing I always do with this recipe is go for the Really Good Tuna.  You can use the canned kind, but if you can find the kind in the glass jar, you know you’ve hit the good stuff.  You will take it off the shelf and put it back a few times as you realize that the good stuff costs more than the canned stuff…but do it.  You’re worth it.

Aside from that, we need some cherry tomatoes that we are going to roast into sweet scrumptiousness, a little olive oil and lemon juice, and a handful of wonderful, aromatic mint.

You basically toss all of this gently together, season it up, and you have a side dish that is worthy of whatever is on your grill.

You may not even NEED whatever was going to be on your grill.  This is a salad that can stand up to the big boys.  Farro.  Good tuna.  Go forth and have the best holiday weekend ever, and if you have a sec, tell me below what is on your long weekend supper table!

Tuna Farro Salad

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• Author: Kate Jackson
• Yield: 4

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Description

Delicious grains, cheery tomatoes and seafood come together in this hearty and easy tuna farro salad! Perfect as a side dish or all on its own.

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Ingredients

• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cups farro
• 7 ounces good quality jarred tuna, broken up into pieces
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup chopped mint
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 and line a baking sheet with foil. Toss tomatoes with a little olive oil and roast for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, Bring water to a simmer, add farro and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender but still chewy. Drain.
3. Gently toss farro, tuna and tomatoes together. Drizzle on a few tablespoons of olive oil and add the lemon juice and toss again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Divide among plates, top with mint and serve.

Notes

If you can’t find farro, you can substitute barley or brown rice, prepared according to package directions.