Farro With Porcini, Chanterelles & Mascarpone

Category: Side Dishes | Blog URL: http://fat-of-the-land.blogspot.com/2009/11/farro-with-chanterelles-and-mascarpone.html

This recipe was entered in The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest, a compilation of the world’s best food blogs which was published in Fall 2010.

Photo: Langdon Cook

Ingredients

1 cup farro

3 cups warm water

2 ounces dried porcini, pulverized

4 ounces mascarpone

1/2 pound chanterelles, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Pulverize the porcini in a food processor, then reconstitute in 3 cups of warm water. Set aside for at least 10 minutes.

Pour porcini water in a pot, salt the water, and bring to a boil. Stir in farro, lower heat to a simmer and cook until water is gone, about 40 minutes. Farro should be al dente yet tender. You can add more or less water and cook until desired softness. There's plenty of leeway and personal preference with farro.

While farro is cooking, saute chanterelles for several minutes in butter in a large skillet, in batches if necessary. Avoid slimy chanterelles by not crowding the pan. You want the mushrooms to be lightly browned and firm.

Stir mascarpone into farro, then stir in most of the chanterelles, reserving some as a topping. Season and garnish with chopped chives or parsley.

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About

Farro is an ancient form of hulled wheat that's low-yielding and similar in texture to barley or wheat-berries. Despite being in vogue of late, farro is actually among the oldest of agricultural products, having been first domesticated nearly 10,000 years ago in the Near East, most likely in present-day Turkey. Today it is eaten more in Itlay than anywhere else.

My first taste of farro was at Lark restaurant in Seattle several years ago. Lark uses a local variety grown and packaged by Bluebird Grain Farms in the Methow Valley of Eastern Washington, a Shangri-La on the east slope of the Cascade Mountains known for its excellent backpacking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing—and now farro.

One has a wide range of mouth feel to work with when cooking this whole grain, not to mention ample time. Add more water and cooking time if you prefer a softer, more yielding bite. You can also soak the grain overnight. Chanterelles add to the grain's hint of fruitiness while the mascarpone gives it the richness to pair well with meats such as steak and veal. Other wild mushrooms can be used as well, including hedgehogs, black trumpets, and winter yellow-foots.