Farro Niçoise

By Mark Bittman

Published July 23, 2013

  • Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(545)
Comments
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There is one mistake many of us make, cooking grain salads: we play down everything but the grains. A pile of cold brown rice with a few chopped vegetables and some soy sauce or a mound of wheat berries with vinaigrette is about as one-dimensional as it gets. This niçoise salad turns that problem on its head, with tuna used in a powerful vinaigrette tossed with farro. Farro is interesting because it’s relatively fast-cooking for a whole grain, but any hearty grain could take its place: one of the many “brown” rices, spelt, kamut, wheat. Whichever you use, the results are nutty and sublime.

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings

  • 1 cup farro

  • Salt

  • 1 pound green beans, trimmed

  • 3 anchovy fillets

  • ⅓ cup olive oil, plus more if needed

  • Zest of 1 lemon

  • Juice of 2 lemons, plus more if needed

  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

  • 1 shallot, peeled and roughly chopped

  • 1 tablespoon capers

  • 1 6-ounce can good tuna in olive oil

  • ½ cup parsley leaves

  • Ground black pepper

  • 3 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges

  • 4 hard-cooked eggs, halved

  • ½ cup niçoise or other black olives

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

53 grams carbs; 159 milligrams cholesterol; 566 calories; 18 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 30 grams fat; 12 grams fiber; 1069 milligrams sodium; 29 grams protein; 12 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put the farro and a large pinch salt in a medium saucepan with water to cover by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the mixture bubbles gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the farro is tender but still has bite, 20 to 30 minutes. Add water if necessary to keep the grains covered; if any liquid remains by the time the farro is tender, strain it out.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, bring another medium pan of water to a boil and salt it. Add the green beans and cook until bright green and crisp-tender, 2 minutes or so, then plunge them into a bowl of ice water or run under cold water to cool them.

  3. Step 3

    Put the anchovies, olive oil, lemon zest and juice, mustard, shallot and capers in a food processor and purée. Chop the tuna and parsley by hand and mix them in. (Alternatively, add the parsley to the food processor and pulse to chop, then add the tuna and pulse, once or twice, to blend. Don’t purée the tuna but chop it well.) The mixture should be pourable; if it isn’t, add lemon juice, olive oil or water to thin a bit. Add pepper, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

  4. Step 4

    Toss the farro, warm, with about half the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and pile it on a platter. Arrange the green beans, tomatoes, eggs and olives around the farro, as artfully as you like. Drizzle the remaining dressing over them and serve.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
545 user ratings
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Comments

Sheila

By "good tuna" I hope Mark means Italian Tuna. Do not even try this with Bumble Bee. Get the Italian Tuna in (preferably) a jar or can. It makes this dish. You can't get away with anything but the freshest and best ingredients in this dish. I've served it at a dinner party, luncheon, bookclub meeting and just me. Healthy and delicious. In Italy they serve Farro as a salad often in the summer. This makes it a great complete meal.

Mimi cooks

Wow, what a great idea, and the tuna becomes an accent instead of big dry chunks. I like to chunk or puree the olives then blend in aioli as a thicker topping for the tuna, egg & tomato, rather than an acidic dressing.

Harriett

We love anything Niçoise and we love farro so this exceeded my expectations. We had gorgeous fresh tuna from Costco so I sushi-seared that and sliced it onto the platter. The thing I love about Niçoise is that it’s so NOT labor-intensive: most of the work can be done ahead. Mixing a portion of the dressing into the warm chewy farro took it to another level, and I drizzled some of the dressing over the other components. The leftover farro, tomatoes and beans are ready for lunch another day.

H. J.

Made this last night and it was delicious. We didn’t have farro, so I subbed hard winter wheat berries that I cooked in our Instant Pot for 37 minutes on high pressure with natural release—would increase that to 40 minutes next time. Otherwise, I followed the rest of the recipe. The dressing is FABULOUS. I would make that again for use on any salad. This one will stay in the rotation for sure.

Brenda French

So simple, and delicious. I used my Instant Pot to cook the farro with some broth. My husband and I found the dressing too acidic, so we cut the lemon juice to one lemon. I liked the "good" tuna in a jar in chunks like the photo, rather than as part of the dressing. It's on the rotation now, and it's great for the Omega-3s!

Menusha

I think pan fried green beans with garlic and rosemary makes this dish better than just blanched green beans. It was a little bland with just the blanched green beans.

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