Farro Salad with Olives, Walnuts and Pecorino
This quirky yet delicious farro salad tends to leave a big impression. Green olives, chives, toasted walnuts, and honey combine with a few other ingredients into bold make-ahead grain salad perfect for parties and potlucks.
This big-flavored farro salad was my contribution to a beautiful Easter spread with friends this year. It’s a favorite farro salad variation I’ve returned to for many years, and one I included it in my Near & Far cookbook. The ingredients are quirky and unexpected - wild amounts of pitted green olives, plenty of toasted walnuts, scallions, honey, olive oil, and something sweet like yellow raisins or dates alongside semi-pearled farro. I made four times the recipe below for Sunday. Leftovers are perfection tossed with some arugula and topped with a simple fried or poached egg.
The Ingredients: Farro Salad with Olives, Walnuts & Pecorino
A few thoughts on key ingredients.
- Farro: After years of experimenting, I always buy semi-pearled farro for this salad. The pearling process takes away some of the outer bran layer. You end up with a chewy, nutty grain that softens nicely while still holding its structure. Farro packaging uses a range of terminology, just look for semi-pearled or pearled. I often see this type of farro in Italian groceries, in bulk bins, or in the Italian section of markets (near pastas or pasta sauces). It takes about 10-15 minutes to cook.
- Olives: In my original headnote I noted “massive Sicilian Castelvetrano olives are my choice here, but any great-tasting green olives will do - Cerignola, Lucques, or Sevillano - preferably from an olive bar, not a can.” But I’ll be honest, I haven’t made this in years without Castelvetrano olives. They work perfectly with the farro and toasted walnuts and pair beautifully with sheep’s milk pecorino.
- Cheese: the finishing touch here is shaved pecorino cheese. I like to buy a mild textured (semi-stagionato) one that isn’t too young or aged too long - somewhere in the middle. It should be assertive enough to stand up to the other bold flavor in play, but not overly strong or salty. And use a good amount, I basically leave that up to you. As people dig into the serving bowl it breaks up into smaller flecks and clings to the walnuts and olives.
- Chopped dates or raisins: You need a sweet component in this salad, and I tend to reach for whatever I have in the kitchen. This time I went with chopped dates, but golden raisins also work well. You could play around with dried cherries, or even chopped dried apricots.
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Farro Salad with Olives, Walnuts and Pecorino
The farro salad you most often encounter in Italy goes something like this-farro, tomatoes, herbs, cheese, olive oil, and perhaps a splash of vinegar. This is my attempt to take things in a different direction. If you prepare the olive mixture the day or two ahead of time, it is even better, but bring it to room temperature before serving.
- 1 1/4 cups / 8 oz / 225 g semi-pearled farro
- 3 cups / 710 ml water
- Fine-grain sea salt
- 1 pound / 455 g green olives, rinsed then pitted
- 4 to 6 tablespoons / 60 to 90 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup / 3 oz / 90 g chopped toasted walnut halves
- 4 to 6 green onions, trimmed and chopped
- 1 bunch chives, minced
- Scant 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/3 cup / 2.5 oz / 70 g pitted dates or golden raisins, chopped
- Shaved pecorino cheese, to serve
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Combine the farro, water, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to take from a boil to a simmer, and simmer gently for about 15 minutes if semi-pearled, longer if whole. Cook until tender, but not so long that the grains become mushy. Drain off any extra water and set aside.
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Coarsely chop the olives and place them in a bowl along with the olive oil, walnuts, green onions, chives, red pepper flakes, honey, lemon juice, raisins, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir well and set aside (or refrigerate) until ready to serve the salad.
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The olive mixture is best at room temperature, so if you've refrigerated it, set it out for 30 minutes before doing the final toss. Combine the farro and olive mixture in a bowl and mix to combine well. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed. Serve topped with thin strips of shaved pecorino.
Serves 6.
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Comments
Easy & Delish! I added 1/2 cup of black lentils, sliced Mina green olives, and skipped the cheese.
I’ve made this a couple of times since you posted it….the slight tweak I made is I add small cubes of pecorino instead of shavings. They stand up better when refrigerated, and this recipe keeps very well for a second or third meal. There’s a great sweet, sour, salty ratio…..I might have to go into the kitchen and whip up a batch right now!
I made a big batch of this yumminess and ate it all week last week. I used dates, then pecans and pine nuts and added a package of edamame, and also some of whatever herbs are growing in pots on my deck (basil, cilantro, mint, and parsley). I never got around to adding the cheese, which is very off-brand for me. This salad is soooooo good, so many textures and I love the bites with olives and dates together.
Whoop! Love your additions!
Commented too soon; sorry! This was really really good. I used dates, and added some black lentils. Thanks!
Do you think this would also work with barley?
Like a pearled barley? It should work nicely.
So good! I was making a farro salad, so siphoned some off to try this. Used the golden raisins, and subbed basil for chives, as I didn’t have any, but otherwise made as written. Delicious, and love the ‘sturdy’ salad aspect of it!
Thanks Louise!
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