I love a good salad, especially one that is packed full of flavour and texture (the way a good salad should be).
Today’s salad recipe is not your usual leafy variety, but a hearty and filling dish. For the base, I’ve used some deliciously chewy farro and charred kale. Stirred through the farro is a quick and easy basil pesto that gives the salad a wonderful flavour throughout. If you love basil you are going to love this salad.
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Ingredients
RSF, VEG 
30 mins 
6-8 - 1 bunch kale, roughly chopped (you could also use silverbeet)
- 2 cups farro
- 1 large bunch basil
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- 50g parmesan
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 cup toasted slivered almonds
- 1 bunch parsley, roughly chopped
- 100g goat cheese
- Sea salt (I use Himalayan pink sea salt)
Method
- Rinse and drain the farro, then place it into a medium saucepan and toast for a minute or two.
- Add about 8 cups of boiling water to the farro and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes with the lid off.
- Once cooked (you want the farro to be chewy with a little bite to it), drain the farro and spread it onto a baking tray to cool.
- Place a pan onto high heat. Once the pan is nice and hot add a drizzle of olive oil and then the kale.
- Quickly toss the kale around in the hot pan for about 1 minute (you want the kale to be bright green with a few charred brown bits). Then remove from the heat and tip the kale into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the parsley and almonds to the mixing bowl with the kale and set aside.
- In a food processor add the basil, parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest and olive oil and blend until it comes together (you want it to be mixed well but not a smooth paste).
- Add the basil mixture and the farro together in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the farro mixture and the goats cheese to the kale and almonds, then stir well to combine. Serve and enjoy!
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