Farro, String Bean, Pomegranate Salad with Ginger Soy Sauce Dressing

Just got back yesterday from an amazing weekend getaway with some close friends to a cabin in the middle of no where -- it was rustic, charming, a bit chilly, but totally worth it. We made a ton of great food, including mountain pies (one with pizza sauce, tomatoes, cheese, and basil and another with nutella with strawberries!), two different kinds of soup, sausages with sweet potatoes and veggies roasted over the fire, and of course S'MORES! But given there was no internet or cell service (not to mention, running water), I took a bit of a food blog hiatus, so today's recipe is one I made for lunch last week. But not to worry -- I have a ton of great recipes lined up to make and share with you all later this week!

 

Before sharing today's recipe, I just wanted to give a little encouragement to those of you out there who might still be hesitant about giving cooking a chance... don't be afraid to make mistakes! Below you'll see my first attempt at making a mountain pie. Whoops! Guess I left it on the fire a little too long! But not to worry, the second one was perfect. If at first you don't succeed... toss your burnt sandwich out in the snow for the animals to eat and stick another one in the fire ;) 

On to the recipe! This was one of those lunches that I expected to be good, but nothing particularly special. Boy, was I wrong! Inspired loosely by this recipe from GreenLiteBites, this is definitely a recipe I'd make again (and that's saying a lot coming from someone who pretty rarely does repeats... after all, there's a world of recipes out there just begging to be tested!). 

I mentioned farro in an earlier post, but for those of you who aren't familiar, it's one of my new favorite grains. It's "heartier" than rice with a bit of a nutty flavor, but not overly "grainy" tasting either; give it a try and let me know what you think! If you don't have it on hand, though, feel free to sub in brown rice or another grain this time around. In addition, this is another one of those recipes where the measurements are flexible -- I'll tell you what I used, but feel free to adjust to your preferences. FYI: I needed to go heavier than listed in the recipe below on the amount of soy sauce I used because my soy sauce is very weak but if you have the potent stuff like they give out at Chinese food restaurants, add it in a little at a time or else you may end up with a salad that's way too salty. 

Farro, String Bean, Pomegranate Salad with Ginger Soy Sauce Dressing

 

¼ c uncooked farro

⅓ large ripe avocado
1 tbsp pomegranate seeds
¼ c raw onion

8-10 french string beans
Small handful of spinach
2-3 tsp soy sauce

Ground ginger

Garlic 

Cook farro according to package instructions. 

Meanwhile, steam string beans until slightly tender (put just a bit of water in the bottom of a bowl with the green beans; pop in the microwave for about one minute until they're no longer raw but still have a bit of a crunch). Cut into 1/2" pieces. Cube avocado, chop onion, and cut or tear spinach. Mix all of these ingredients plus the pomegranate seeds and the cooked farro in a bowl. 

In a separate small bowl, mix 2-3 tsp of soy sauce with ground ginger and garlic powder to taste. Pour over salad and mix well. Serve room temperature.