Baked Farro With Tomatoes and Herbs from Veganomicon

Baked Farro With Tomatoes and Herbs casserole may end up being your new favorite comfort food dish! It's the perfect dinner  for chilly autumn evenings. Serve it with roasted vegetables and a vegan roast or lentil loaf. This easy to make vegan recipe is from Veganomicon, 10th Anniversary Edition by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. 

Baked Farro

In the chilly autumn and winter months, is there anything more comforting than a piping-hot casserole? I think not.

We tend to opt for foods like pasta and winter squash this time of year, but I'm telling you, you need to give farro a try. This hearty grain holds its own in this cozy casserole. And this dish has a rich, cheesy flavor, thanks to the addition of nutritional yeast. 

What is Farro?

Farro is an ancient grain from the wheat family. It’s full of fiber, protein, and b vitamins, as well as antioxidants and minerals, so it has many health benefits. It's chewy, and hearty, making it a great candidate for soups, stews, and casseroles. I like to use it in salads, too.

People who have problems digesting wheat have told me that they can eat farro. Note that it does contain gluten, so if you have a sensitivity, it's not for you.

In the grocery store, for farro in the same area that you would find rice and quinoa. 

When preparing farro, sort through the grains to remove any debris and then rinse it in colander.

What You Need

• Olive oil
• Uncooked farro
• Garlic
• Shallot
• Bay leaf
• Vegetable broth
• Canned diced tomatoes
• Dried oregano
• Dried thyme or basil
• Salt
• Flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil
• Nutritional yeast
• Walnuts
• Lemon zest 

See the recipe card for exact measurements.

How to Make Baked Farro

Don't let the long cooking time scare you. This recipe is easy to make and most of the cooking time is hands-off baking time.

• First you preheat your oven to 350°F and lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with olive oil.
• Next, In a large saucepan over medium, you sauté the garlic and shallot in olive oil for about 2 minutes or until the shallot has softened.
• You, stir in the farro and the bay leaf and then sauté for another minute.
• Then you pour in the vegetable broth and the tomatoes.
• You now increase the heat to high and bring the mixture to a rapid simmer, cooking for about 2 minutes.
• Then you turn off the heat and add the oregano, thyme, and salt, removing bay leaf. Taste and season with a little more salt, if you want, and then stir in the parsley and nutritional yeast.
• Next you pour the farro mixture into the prepared baking dish and smooth the top. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake it for about 40 minutes, or until the farro has absorbed almost all of the liquid.
• While the casserole is baking, pulse together the topping ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor.
• Take the casserole out of the oven, remove the foil, and cover the top evenly with the walnut topping. Drizzle the remaining olive oil on top and bake for another 10 minutes to lightly brown the top.

For best results, allow your casserole to sit for 10 minutes to cool slightly and firm up a bit. Tthis casserole tastes even better the next day after the flavors have blended a bit more.

Serving Your Baked Farro

Serve your baked farro as a main dish along with roasted veggies, or as a side a side dish with Lentil Loaf, Mushroom Wellington, or Stuffed Portobellos. 

Veganomicon

The world was a very different place for vegans in 2007. Most restaurants were not even close to being vegan friendly, the only dairy-free vegan cheese on the market resembled a large crayon, and coffee shop baristas wouldn’t even know what you were talking about if you asked for almond milk in your coffee. Vegan recipes could be difficult to come by, too. There were only a couple of vegan blogs online and the shelves at Barnes and Nobel only housed a few vegan cookbooks. And then, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero came to the rescue of vegans who afraid of being doomed to a future of tasteless tofu burgers and limp iceberg lettuce salad with their cookbook Veganomicon.

With than 250 recipes, Veganomicon was an absolute masterpiece of deliciousness. The recipes were creative and flavorful, and the book was chock-full of cooking tips and tricks. Isa and Terry both have a great sense of humor, which shines through in their writing and makes cooking their recipes that much more fun.

Veganomicon was given to me as a secret Santa gift by one of my coworkers at time (thank you, Vanessa!), and I dug in with gusto as soon as the office Christmas party was over. I was soon whipping up batches of Pineapple-Cashew-Quinoa Stir-Fry, making my own Chickpea Cutlets, and serving up cozy bowls of cheesy Mac Daddy.

The vegan world has changed a lot in the past ten years. It’s easy to find vegan options when dining out, delicious dairy-free cheeses abound, and most coffee shops have several plant-based milks to choose from. Vegan blogs abound, and my Ikea Billy bookcases are beginning to buckle under the weight of my vast vegan cookbook collection. Veganomicon has changed, too. Isa and Terry now have a new, revised and updated 10^th anniversary edition, and they’ve somehow managed to make it even better than the first.

Veganomicon, 10th Anniversary Edition

Veganomicon, 10th Anniversary Edition: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook contains all of my favorites from the original book, including Chile Cornmeal Crusted Po’ Boy sandwiches, Snobby Joes, Pumpkin Baked Ziti with Caramelized Onions and Sage Crumb Topping, and Smlove Pie. It has new recipes that reflect current food trends, too, such the Kale Tahini Caesar Salad and Little Maple Breakfast Sausages. The book’s pages have been given a makeover with a beautiful, clean layout and gorgeous, drool-worthy photography.

Veganomicon, 10th Anniversary Edition is full of handy information, including lists of foods to keep stocked in your pantry and kitchen equipment. Cooking terminology is explained, knife skill tips are given, and there’s even advice for keeping your cutting board from slipping. With a plethora of information on how to cook various vegetables, beans, and grains, this book is indispensible in the kitchen.

Serve Your Baked Farro with

• Stuffed Portobellos
• Harvest Salad with Pumpkin Vinaigrette
• Garlicky Roasted Vegetables 
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts

More Farro Recipes You Might Enjoy Include

• Aspragus and Arugula Farro Salad
• Fall Farro Salad with Apples and Pecans