An Italian style wintery farro and black rice salad with citrus vinaigrette, blood oranges and chives.
My favorite thing about winter is the abundance of citrus, particularly blood oranges. Moro, Cara-Caras, they are everywhere this time of the year. Yours truly is in Love!
Most days we’ll enjoy them sliced up and chilled straight out of the refrigerator. But I’ve been thinking what to do with this big jar of Forbidden black rice and a bag of farro I ordered in bulk a while back, and this recipe idea came to mind.
The gist of it is that you cook plain black rice and farro to keep refrigerated to have on hand for the week, you know, to help make a meal of things. When dinner time rolls around all you need to do is slice up some oranges and even grapefruit while capturing all those juices to make a vinaigrette for your salad. Toss everything well to coat and top with chilled orange slices and lots of chives.
It’s Easy, Healthy, Hearty & Vegan!
P.S. Farro is the traditional grain of the Mediterranean, a hearty ancient whole grain with nutty flavor and chewy texture.
Note to self: do a riff on this black rice salad with mango, avocado & lime!
Farro & Black Rice Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
An Italian style wintery black rice and farro salad with citrus vinaigrette, blood oranges and chives.
Servings 4 people
Calories 928kcal
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups Forbidden Black Rice -cooked
- 2.5 cups Farro -cooked
- 4 blood oranges -chilled
- 1/3 cup fresh onion chives -chopped
- 1 lime or lemon -cut into wedges for serving
Blood Orange Citrus Vinaigrette:
- 1 tbsp blood orange olive oil
- 1/2 lemon -juiced
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- the reserved orange juice from cutting the oranges
- 1 pinch sea salt +more to taste
Instructions
- Use a serrated knife to slice the ends off of each orange. Carefully cut the peel and the pith and discard. Hold the orange in your hand over a bowl and start slicing in between each membrane to cut clean slices while catching all the juices in the bowl underneath. Place the orange slices in a separate bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Make the Vinaigrette:
- Whisk together the reserved orange juices with the blood orange olive oil, lemon juice and maple syrup. Season to taste with sea salt.
Make the Salad:
- In a large mixing bowl toss the farro and black rice with the citrus vinaigrette until coated all over. Taste and adjust seasoning with more seas salt and lemon to your taste.
- Transfer to a serving plate and top with the sliced oranges and chopped chives. Serve with extra lemon or lime wedges.
Notes
- When cooking the farro and black rice simply follow the instructions on the package, cooking times might be slightly different from brand to brand.
- Feel free to adapt this salad with whatever whole grain you have on hand.
Nutrition
Calories: 928kcal | Carbohydrates: 195g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Sodium: 30mg | Potassium: 688mg | Fiber: 25g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 213IU | Vitamin C: 21mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 5mg
Environmental Information
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I haven’t had Farro nor black rice before this and boy was I missing out. This salad is beyond delicious and so simple, I could literally eat it every day.
Hi. I love farro, and have forbidden black rice in my fridge. But I need to confirm something first. The recipe states that each serving is over 900 cals. How is this possible?
I found that one cup of cooked farro and one cup of cooked black rice are each 200 cals. So 200 times 2.5 cups divided by four servings is 125 cal for farro and 125 cals for the rice. So 250 cals per serving for the grains. The vinaigrette is maybe 150 cals/serving. So total per serving should be 400 cals. Am I missing something?
Hi Lee, you are right, I suspect there is an error in the recipe card where it counts farro as pasta for some reason, I will make sure to address this glitch asap. Hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂