This is by far one of my favourite summer salad! Farro is such a gorgeous grain which I definitely need to use more often! It has a delicious nutty flavour and it so versatile too! We are having so many tomatoes at the moment in the garden so I really made the most of them and slow roasted them which makes them super sweet and flavoursome! It’s a great salad for packed lunches too as it will last well in the fridge for few days!

Serves 3-4 people 

Ingredients:

About 2 1/2 cups of farro- soaked overnight 

300gr of heirloom tomatoes – sliced in halves 

1 can of cannellini beans- drained and rinsed 

1 red onion – peeled and finely sliced 

About 1/2 jar (100gr) of pitted olives – cut in halves 

A drizzle of olive oil and salt for roasting 

A generous bunch of basil roughly chopped 

For the dressing: 

4 tbsp of good quality extra virgin olive oil 

3 tbsp of lemon juice 

3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar 

1 garlic clove – crushed 

Place all the tomatoes halves on a large baking tray. Drizzle them with some olive oil, a pinch of salt and slow roast them in the oven at 150 degrees Celsius (not higher!) for 30-35 minutes. 

In the meantime cook the farro. Simply place a large pan of salted water to boil, dump in the farro and cook on a medium heat for 30 minutes, until soft but still with a bite. Drain it and leave it too cool on one side.

To make the dressing simply mix all the ingredients into a bowl. In a large bowl add in the chopped onion, olives, cannellini beans, cooked farro, roasted tomatoes and give everything a good mix. Pour over the dressing and the chopped basil, mix again and serve. Any leftovers will last in an airtight container for few days.