Farro with Wild Mushrooms

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Description

We don’t get to eat a lot of food that’s identical to what the ancient Romans would have eaten, which is one of the things that makes farro so fun. They must have had mushrooms and fermented cream back then, so it’s easy to imagine Cleopatra and Mark Antony enjoying this dish.

Ingredients

  • ½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 10 brown mushroom caps, diced
  • salt to taste
  • ½ onion, diced small
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup pearled farro, rinsed, or more to taste
  • 3 cups chicken stock, divided
  • 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Place porcini mushrooms in a bowl and cover with warm water; soak until mushrooms are reconstituted
  2. 20 to 30 minutes. Drain and chop mushrooms.
  3. Heat olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Saute brown mushrooms with a pinch of salt in hot oil until slightly golden and moisture cooks off
  4. 5 to 10 minutes. Add chopped porcini mushrooms
  5. reduce heat to medium
  6. and cook and stir until hot
  7. 2 to 4 minutes.
  8. Stir onion into mushrooms; cook and stir until translucent and golden
  9. 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant
  10. about 1 minute.
  11. Pour farro into mushroom mixture; stir until farro is coated in olive oil. Increase heat to high and add 1 cup chicken broth with a pinch of salt to mushroom mixture; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low
  12. cover the pot with a lid
  13. and simmer
  14. stirring once
  15. until liquid is absorbed
  16. about 10 minutes.
  17. Increase heat to high and stir remaining chicken broth into farro mixture; bring to a boil
  18. reduce heat to medium-low
  19. cover the pot with a lid
  20. and simmer
  21. stirring occasionally
  22. until farro is starting to get tender
  23. about 15 minutes. Remove the lid from the pot and continue simmering uncovered until farro reaches desired tenderness
  24. about 15 minutes more.
  25. Reduce heat to low; stir creme fraiche and parsley into farro mixture. Season with salt and black pepper. Stir Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese into farro and ladle into bowls.

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 55 mins

Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Servings: 6

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