Sunday Slow Bake: Charlie Bird Farro Salad

Lessons learned while making Ina Garten’s recipe for this hearty salad featuring arugula and farro 

A few months ago, I discovered Ina Garten had a podcast. As I looked over the episodes, I chose one that featured Ann Patchett, a novelist who owns the most perfect local bookstore here in Nashville, Parnassus Books. Ina made a cherry clafoutis (a French dessert I had to look up) and then they made a grain salad featuring farro, and—as weird as this sounds—I couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

So, I made it. 

Apparently, the salad was created by chef Ryan Hardy at a SoHo restaurant called Charlie Bird. The Charlie Bird Farro Salad features farro, cooked in apple cider, which gives it a bit of sweetness, then paired with arugula, radishes, tomatoes, flaky Parmesan cheese and a tasty lemon vinaigrette. 

Oh, and there are pistachios. 

Does it sound like a lot? Yes. But somehow all of these flavors work together, creating a beautifully colorful salad that’s hearty enough for a meal. I’ve also added tuna and salmon to it to add a little extra protein. If it tells you anything, I’ve made it a few times since that first attempt. 

Recently, I decided to make it as my Sunday Slow Bake, a weekly exercise that forces me to slow down, refocus and unplug. It’s an attempt to focus on one thing at a time, turn off my phone and all the noise and just make a recipe. As I make the recipe, I take note of my observations. Here’s what I learned from making the Charlie Bird Farro Salad. 

• This recipe involves a fair amount of chopping. You slice up the radishes and halve tomatoes and chop up pistachios. For me, chopping can be very meditative. While my hands do the work, my mind wanders and I often find myself thinking and praying for people I love.
  

• But distractions can be costly when you’re chopping. If your mind wanders a little too far, you’ll find yourself cutting your thumb. . .
  

• Like I said early, the ingredients in this recipe seem like a lot. Radishes, pistachios, vinaigrette—how does all of this work together? Well, I don’t know. . . but it goes to show that you don’t know everything, and, sometimes, the thing you love the most is the combination you never saw coming.
  

• This recipe also tests my patience a little. The farro has to cook for 30 minutes and you’re supposed to wait about 15 minutes for it to cool (which I absolutely did not do). Definitely DO pour vinaigrette over the warm farro and let it soak in the flavor. One point for impatience there.
  

• Sometimes, when cooking (and in life) you have to make quick decisions. I realized as I was nearing the end of making this salad that I didn’t have Parmesan in the fridge. When I bought groceries, knowing this salad was on my menu for the week, I thought I had enough Parmesan left over from a previous recipe. It turns out that I didn’t, so I had to work with what I did have: feta. It’s better with Parmesan as written.
  

• I made this recipe after I had spent a week at my parents’ house as my dad recovered from knee replacement surgery. As I halved the cherry tomatoes they’d sent me home with, I missed them and was thankful to have that time with them. And for garden-grown cherry tomatoes that just have so much more flavor than the grocery store! 

How will you slow down, refocus and unplug? Share your thoughts in the comments!