Lentil, Avocado, and Farro Salad

Every week, Caroline Wright creates simple, civilized recipes for Food52 that feed four -- for under $20, in under 20 minutes.

Today: A trick for cooking farro on a weeknight -- and a salad to make with it.

Usually I walk the center aisles of the grocery store with a glazed look, passing by most of the items for the few larder staples I keep around regularly. Recently, I picked up some par-cooked farro to give it a try after noticing it in more than one store in my area. It’s a simple shortcut ingredient that makes this slow-cooking grain a weeknight possibility (so does soaking farro overnight, in case you have the whole grain on hand). This little ditty is just a combination of some of my favorite flavors that are kicking around the market right now -- creamy avocado, bittersweet blood orange -- that pair perfectly with the chewy, hearty farro in a grain salad.

Lentil, Avocado, and Farro Salad

3/4 cups par-cooked farro, or farro soaked overnight in water
1/2 cup lentils
1 cup parsley leaves
1 small shallot
3 blood oranges
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
2 small ripe avocados
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

As a freelance food writer and cook, I first wrote this style of recipe as a column on my blog, The Wright Recipes, as an excuse to cook good food for my friends in a quick and simple way. 

Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute™ Meals grew into a cookbook that was published by Workman in May 2013. The recipes found here are original, made especially for Food52 to once again celebrate simple food with friends.

Photo by Caroline Wright