• Blog
  • A La Carte
  • Archives
  • About Me
Menu

The Hungry Scribbler

  • Blog
  • A La Carte
  • Archives
  • About Me

Roasted Carrot and Kale Farrotto

March 9, 2015

My grandmother was way too busy to cook. After she came to live with us in L.A. in the seventies, she was always going to the dim sum parlor to yum cha with her friends. Or, she could frequently be found riding the bus around the brown, smoggy city with my brother, Simon, making him hand out to unsuspecting passengers tracts and flyers about Jesus and the Second Coming, two things in which she staunchly believed.

Growing up, nearly all the food we ate was Chinese, of the Cantonese variety. We lived in Chinatown and our mother did most of her shopping there, with eggs and freshly killed chicken from the place on Broadway, staples from the shop still at the corner of Hill and Alpine, slippery rice noodles from Bicycle Lee, who pedaled around the neighborhood hawking the most delicious wares from a metal box attached to the back of his two-wheel vehicle. 

The furthest afield we might have gone was downtown, such as the time when Granny (as we Americanized Chinese kids called her) purchased an enormous watermelon from the Grand Central Market, brought it home on the bus, and carried it up to the front steps of our house, shouting, "Ayyyaaaa, help!" because she was about to drop it.

There is really only one dish I ever remember Granny cooking, though: Oatmeal and ground beef porridge.

I know. Sounds a little strange, but it's what she came up with after my sister, Marilyn, learned how to make meatloaf in her seventh grade Home Economics class. The binder in the meatloaf? Not breadcrumbs or milk-soaked pieces of bread, but oatmeal. My grandmother seemed to think this combination genius. Soon after Marilyn made the Luther Burbank Jr. High School Home Ec special for us, Granny began whipping up her deconstructed version, complete with a soy sauce drizzle.

Images of our oatmeal porridge-eating Granny. In the left photo, I am sandwiched between my mother and Granny.

When I came across a number of recipes recently substituting grains (farro, amaranth, etc.) in dishes where rice might more normally be used, I immediately recalled Granny's porridge. I imagined a pot of it simmering on our avocado green stove, the rich meaty smell floating through the rest of the house. Was her dish such a far cry from other savory grain dishes now in vogue? Maybe hers was a bit more rustic, but it was still filling, warming and worth eating on a cool, end-of-winter day.

When I began to think about it more, it occurred to me that what Granny was doing back then continues to occur today. People travelling across worlds to start over or just to visit briefly inevitably fold into their lives new ways of eating and seeing, thinking and being.

The oatmeal and beef porridge which we ABC (American Born Chinese) kids found to be such a strange combination had been created in the same spirit as that. Granny was taking the old Chinese technique of long-simmering rice and liquid (into jook, a savory porridge), and applying it to what for her was a new-world grain. In the end, she made a dish that was all her own.

Isn't that what the best of any kind of cooking, whether in a humble home kitchen or a critically-acclaimed restaurant is ultimately about -- being creative and using the best of what you have in a way that means something to you?

That's what I strive for, at least, with the hope that it will also taste good.

Speaking of which, this carrot and kale farrotto is something that falls squarely in that category, the tastes-so-good-I-can't-stop-eating-it one, that is. Cooked just like a risotto, using cracked farro instead of rice, this dish is filled with sweet, caramelized carrots and silky ribbons of kale, bits of parmesan that melt into the tender, nourishing grain.

Cheesy, sweet, nutty. This farrotto is something I can staunchly believe in. And, I am willing to bet my Granny would have loved it too.

Hope you like it!

Let the light shine on your farrotto. Drizzle some herbaceous oil over top. Shower on the parmesan cheese.

Roasted Carrot and Kale Farrotto

Inspired by the many cooks and chefs exploring the beauty and flavors of grains. And by my Granny too, of course.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. carrots, chopped (about 1/2")
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 small yellow onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup cracked farro*
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock, heated to a simmer
1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves cut into thin ribbons
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Toss carrots with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a greased or lined baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes, stirring at least once. The carrots should look like they are beginning to caramelize, with dark edges.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion, garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Cook until onion is softened (do not allow to brown), about 7 minutes. Add farro and stir to coat with the oil mixture. Cook for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until almost completely absorbed, about 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the hot broth and cook, stirring occasionally, until the broth is almost completely absorbed (there should be very little liquid when you scrape the bottom of the pan, but the farro should not be sticking). Reduce the heat if necessary. Continue to add broth in 1/4 cup increments, stirring occasionally and allowing the farro to absorb the liquid almost completely with each addition. Cook until farro is tender but still has some bite. (This should take about 30 minutes.) Add roasted carrots. Add kale and stir until wilted. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

Stir in cheese and an additional tablespoon of butter. Add 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup broth to moisten the farrotto. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into shallow bowls. Sprinkle with additional cheese and drizzle with additional olive oil, if desired.

*A Note: I used cracked farro, but you may substitute whole farro if you wish. Please keep in mind that you'll need to cook the whole farro for much longer.

In Winter, Vegetables, Grains Tags Carrot Kale Farrotto
← Tahini Oat Butter CookiesBeet-Stained Meringues with Bittersweet Chocolate →
Change is in the air/hair. #haircut #newhair #goldcombsalon #pnwfall
When’s the last time you saw a 5-day old baby donkey? We saw this one today. He stopped to say hi to us after nuzzling his sweet mama. #cutenessoverload #donkey #farmlife #pnw
New bread board, close up. My goodness, what an amazing Mother's Day present! It's a single piece of maple 2 1/2 x 4 feet with gorgeous spalting. Mark the woodworker at Hardwood to Get here in town spiffed it all up for me. Happy Mother's Day to all
So here's my question. If it's a double rainbow does that mean there are two pots of gold? #rainbow #pnw #pnwspring
This book! Ugh, just glorious. My brother keeps those Amazon warehouse robots busy by sending me amazing books he thinks I should read. Everyone needs a brother like him. #emilferris #readingbingetonight #myfavoritethingismonsters #graphicnovel
Bold bake for breakfast today. It's the rye-wheat from @blainewetzel 's beautiful Sea and Smoke. I love how this book highlights so many special plants and ingredients we have in this area, including those right here across the bay from alumni. #rye
From the weekend Easter Egg Hunt. While all the kids and competitive kids-at-heart were running through the woods looking for eggs, I was on the forest floor snipping nettles and fiddleheads. Priorities, you know? I managed to leave the hunt with one
Ssh! Don't tell. We went off the trail! But then we found salamander eggs, tree frogs and touched our fingers to a cascade of sap flowing down the side of a Douglas Fir tree. Spring means the woods are noisy and so alive. #exploringnature #nature #wo
So I was minding my own business, trying to get a #crumbshot of the Country Loaf I made during @matts_miche 'a awesome bakealong, when someone's paper airplane landed exactly on top of my loaf. #photobombed #bread #bread🍞#naturallyleavened #sourdoug
“It is impossible not to love someone who makes toast for you. People’s failings, even major ones such as when they make you wear short trousers to school, fall into insignificance as your teeth break through the rough, toasted crust and sink into the doughy cushion of white bread underneath. Once the warm, salty butter has hit your tongue, you are smitten. Putty in their hands.”
— Nigel Slater

Still Hungry?
Enter your email address:

Powered by Squarespace