broccoli rubble farro salad

Let me rewind and explain. Problem: Two children (not the aforementioned monsters, or at least not yet today) who do eat different vegetables at different times but really only reliably both eat broccoli each time. Plus two parents who are growing bored with eating steamed (because they haven’t yet seen the light of crispy roasted broccoli, although they are wrong and we tell them this often) broccoli all the time. Solution: Give it a fine chop (rubble it, if you will) and sauté it in olive oil with a heap of garlic, as many red pepper flakes as we can get away with, lemon zest, salt, and black pepper and then finish it with fresh lemon juice and a fistful of grated pecorino romano (particularly excellent here for its pungent saltiness) for a mixture that’s zinging with enough flavor you’d eat it from a fork with nothing else.

But it’s so good, we prefer to stretch it into dinner as often as possible. We’ve finished it with these pangrattato crumbs and a crispy egg, or when at room temperature, a ball of burrata. (Which is becoming the new #putaneggonit, at least when we find it for a reasonable price.) We’ve tucked it between a piece of toast and slice of provolone for broccoli melts. We’ve put it on top of a slick of garlicky béchamel with torn mozzarella on top for broccoli pizzas. And now there’s this: a farro salad that’s as good warm as it is at room temperature, which means it can be ready for all the weekend picnics and potlucks to come, or for dinner any night of the week. Such as this one.

Broccoli Rubble Farro Salad

I like broccolini for this because it gets and stays more green when you cook it, even when it’s hit with lemon juice. Regular broccoli works just fine, however, there’s just more risk of discoloration once you add lemon juice. When using regular broccoli, I like to peel the stems so that they cook as quickly as the florets.

I boil the broccoli here for ease — so you don’t have to turn on the oven and use the stove — but you can definitely approach the broccoli prep as we did here and then give it a chop.

This is the easiest way to make farro — boiling and draining — second only to a rice-cooker. If mine hadn’t been broken at the hands of a small, possibly well-intended child, I’d have used it.

• Salt
• 1 cup semi-pearled farro
• 1 pound broccolini or regular broccoli (previously: 2 pounds, see note)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 ounces pecorino romano, grated or ground in a food processor

Add farro back to same pot (I’m totally okay with some errant leftover broccoli flecks and vitamins here, if you’re not, use another pot of salted water) and cook, simmering, for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender. (Since there are so many varieties of farro, however, if your package suggests otherwise, it’s best to defer to its cooking suggestion.) Drain and tip into a large mixing bowl; cool to lukewarm.

Pat drained broccoli dry on towels, trying to remove as much excess moisture as possible. Chop into small (roughly 1/2-inch) bits. In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add garlic and pepper flakes, to taste, and cook for 1 minute, until garlic is faintly golden. Add chopped broccoli, lemon zest, and salt (I use a full teaspoon kosher salt here, but adjust the amount to your taste) and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 more minutes, until broccoli is well-seasoned and slightly more tender.

Add broccoli and every bit of garlic and oil from the pan to the bowl of farro and stir to combine. Add lemon juice, black pepper and more salt to taste (but 1/2 teaspoon of each is what we used) and stir to combine. Stir in cheese.

Serve warm or at room temperature as-in, with an egg on top, burrata, and/or seasoned breadcrumbs.