Celebrity chef Ina Garten strives to make us better home cooks — and if you’ve ever seen her “Barefoot Contessa” show, then you know she loves a pretty side salad. Garten has plenty of favorite restaurants, but she has one go-to version of a restaurant dish that she calls her “favorite side dish ever” on Instagram — the farro salad from Charlie Bird in Manhattan.
Salads can be loaded with all kinds of ingredients, from leafy greens to hearty proteins and even ancient grains like farro. Farro is sold in whole-grain form (and usually offered in pearl, semi-pearl, or whole varieties) and can come from multiple ancient wheat plants. When cooked, farro has a chewy texture and a nutty, savory flavor.
Garten says this particular farro salad can go with any type of meat. “Lamb, chicken, fish, whatever,” she says of its versatility while making it in a video shared on Instagram. And according to Yelp users who have visited the restaurant, the farro salad is something special. Even in reviews that said the rest of the food was so-so, the farro salad was the one standout. Thanks to Garten, who walks viewers through it step-by-step, it’s easy to make at home if you can’t get to the sleek SoHo restaurant any time soon.
Why Ina Garten loves Charlie Bird’s farro salad
The farro, which is the salad’s main ingredient, gets most of its flavor from being cooked in apple cider as opposed to water or a savory stock or broth. Ina Garten adds a lemon vinaigrette at the beginning while the farro is still warm, so the grain absorbs it better. She also sets a little bit of the dressing aside to add in at the end when the other ingredients are added. The apple cider’s sweetness gets absorbed by the farro as it cooks, helping it hold up against spicy, peppery ingredients like radishes and arugula.
The farro is paired with pistachios for a crunchy texture, and plenty of fresh herbs like parsley and mint are incorporated. The dish is finished with shaved Parmesan, which Garten uses a vegetable peeler to slice. Given the salad is dressed immediately, it’s likely best to serve it as soon as it’s ready.
