Farro and Bean Soup
Martha Rose Shulman
1202 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
1,202
About 2 hours, plus soaking of the beans and farro
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Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil and drop in the celery. Boil until partially cooked, about 3 minutes. Drain, pat dry and lay side by side, cut side up, in a baking dish.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat and add the onion and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic. Stir together for a minute, until fragrant, and add the stock, lemon juice, and the wine. Bring to a boil on top of the stove and pour over the celery. Season the celery with salt and pepper and lay the lemon slices on top. Cover tightly and place in the oven. Braise for 40 minutes, or until the celery is thoroughly tender but still holds its shape. Remove from the heat and allow the celery to cool in the liquid.
Using tongs, remove the celery from the pot and cut the halved bunches lengthwise in half again. Transfer to a platter or a wide serving dish. Pour the liquid into a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce by about half. Pour over the celery. Drizzle on the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, grind on some pepper, sprinkle on the parsley and serve, or chill and serve cold or at room temperature. Spoon liquid from the platter over each portion.
Different, interesting and very good. It is especially nice for a dinner party because it tastes best, in my opinion, at room temp.
This is one of the finest vegetable dishes I have ever made. And it's celery! It lasts for days and is terrific cold. Nothing but yumminess.
This is very much like a dish of braised cardoons that is traditional in Spain, usually with a bechamél and grated cheese on top, but I omit those to lighten it up. Since in the US I don't always have ready access to cardoons, I substitute celery, and love it. This specific recipe is perfect, more people should try it! Easily made ahead and reheated, and with a last minute topping of olive-oil toasted bread crumbs, and/or grated Parm or Manchego-- a bit of lemon, or not-- delish!
I didn't have a whole lemon so I left it out, and it still tasted really good. I used lemon juice that I had frozen and defrosted.
Different, interesting and very good. It is especially nice for a dinner party because it tastes best, in my opinion, at room temp.
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