Tuesday, May 26: Creamy Spring Veggies and Pesto Farro

This was a delicious, healthy dinner that I made up on the fly. I knew I wanted something with lots of green, spring veggies, and I had a bit of leftover arugula pesto to use up. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a sauce made of wine, marscapone, butter, parm, and lemon! So I put my thinking/chef’s cap on and came up with the combo of pesto farro topped with creamy veggies. Perfect!

Start by melting 1-2 TB butter in a few big glugs of olive oil in a pot or saute pan over medium heat. Add 2-3 sliced cloves of garlic and a pinch of red pepper flakes (some minced shallot would also work well here), and saute a few minutes. Add one bunch of asparagus chopped into ~1/2 inch pieces, plus a pinch of salt, and saute 5 minutes. Pour in about 1/2 cup or so of wine (I would usually use dry white wine here, but we were drinking rose so I used that!) and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. Add in 1 bunch of Tuscan kale (de-stemmed and cut into ribbons or bite-size pieces) and another pinch of salt. Stir to combine and let cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 or so minutes, or until the asparagus is tender and kale is wilted. Stir in 1/2-1 cup of frozen peas (no need to defrost) and stir to warm. Stir in about 1/2 cup of marscapone and a few big handfuls (about 1/3 cup) grated parm, stirring to melt and combine. Finish by squeezing in the juice of 1/2 lemon, plus more to taste (I like lots of lemon). Taste and adjust for salt, parm, red pepper flakes, or lemon.

While the veggies are cooking, prepare your farro according to package instructions (I used 1.5 cups of dry farro, cooked in chicken broth). When the farro is finished cooking, drain excess liquid and stir in a few TB of your favorite pesto (I used homemade arugula pesto).

Serve by spooning the farro into bowls, topped with the saucy veggie mixture. Extra lemon slices on the side if you are a lemon fiend like me!