Grapefruit Marmalade + White Bean Farro Salad
The very first, twenty-eighteen attempt at expanding my salad repertoire. I very much have an affinity for fruit in savory dishes, especially mixed into a fresh leafy salad. Maybe it's my - warm climate, Florida roots speaking, but I can truly never get enough citrus in my life. I remember as a child, one of my favorite weekend morning rituals would be to ride down to the orange grove at the end of my street. We would get fresh squeezed orange or grapefruit juice, marmalade's and pick blood oranges.
Their citrus is unlike any I have yet to find. A taste I still dream of to this day as being morning perfection. When they announced in my early high school years that the citrus grove was closing and the land was being turned into medial offices, I was beyond devistsated. It was probably the begging of my awareness of mass corporations and the power they had to bulldoze over small businesses. That story is for another day however.
I have always been a bit of a salad fiend. It just may be my favorite way to spend most meals - elbow deep in a big ol' bowl of greens. So to honor my love and ability to concoct pretty tasty and might I add, healthy salads, I will be making a point to add a new one to the blog every fortnight.
Hope you enjoy this tasty mix of sweet citrus + savory beans with my Grapefruit Marmalade + White Bean Grain Salad.
GRAPEFRUIT MARMALADE + WHITE BEAN GRAIN SALAD
ingredients
1 8 oz. can of Great Northern White Beans
1 cup Farro
1 Small White Onion thinly sliced
2 Pink Grapefruit
1/2 cup Feta Cheese
1 1/2 cups of Arugula
for the dressing
1 tbsp White Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Pink Grapefruit marmalade*use Orange Marmalade, Honey or other natural sweetener in its place.
the juice from half a large Pink Grapefruit
Salt + Pepper
directions
Begin by thinly slicing the white onion and marinating them along with the cleaned white beans in the salad dressing. I like to start every salad by marinating the bits to allow the flavor to set in. Use the allocated dressing measurements as merely guidelines. Add more vinegar, marmalade or grapefruit juice to your liking. Make sure there is enough liquid to coat the onions and beans.
Next, in a small pot, bring 2 cups water and 1 cup farro to a boil. let simmer for about 10 minutes. Also, refer to the instructions on the farro packet you purchased, as the measurements vary.
While the farro is cooking we will next prep the grapefruit. There are many ways to prep a citrus fruit for a salad, and in this case we will want to remove all of the pith and membrane (the white bitter bits). You can either peel or cut the skin off with a sharp knife being careful to not loose the shape of the grapefruit. Once the fruit is peeled we will want to break apart the segments carefully. Next, along the straight seam of the segmented fruit you will want to cut off the membrane, removing the outer skin of the fruit. Be very careful when removing it, as citrus tends to easily fall apart.
Once the farro has finished cooking, you want to strain it and rinse with cold water. We next bring all the elements together, Mix in the 1 cup of farro into the bowl of marinating vegi’s. Crumble the feta and add in the arugula. While lighting mixing together the salad, start to add in the Grapefruit bits, keep a few pieces to add to the top. If your salad needs more dressing, you can add in more vinegar and oil, and even squeeze in an extra juice from the left over grapefruit bits. Salt and pepper to taste and garnish with some extra slices of grapefruit.
