Farro and Millet Risotto Recipe with Peas

What’s that slogan? Kid tested, mother approved? The slogan for this meal would be mother tested, kid approved. I had a big bag of organic farro from Costco (you know, when Dad calls and he’s going up and down the aisles looking for various organicky goodness to bring home and he calls out “how about some farro?” and I think how do i cook farro?). I googled. I came upon 101 Cookbooks. It’s a recipe journal blog. Fabulous food.

I’ve made it a number of times since first discovering it. SuperBoy loves it; AA loves it; I love it.

Farro and Millet Risotto Recipe, modified from the 101 Cookbooks recipe. The italicized parts are a direct quotation from the recipe. Forgive some of the photos; it was smartphone cameraing.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked millet

4 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

rich salt–coarse kosher or sea salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 medium yellow unions, cut in half and then sliced thinly

1 clove of garlic, smashed & chopped

2 cups farro

about 7 cups broth–veggie or chicken

2 big handfuls of grated parm or pecorino romano

one medium bag of frozen peas, or delicata squash when in season, or whatever veggies you bought at the coop on sale that are living in your fridge or freezer

Directions

Pull out two saucepans: one for the millet, and a larger one for the farro.

Toast millet in a dry saucepan over medium heat, then add  1 3/4 cup water, 1 tbpn oil, and few pinches of salt. Stir, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the grains are cooked and free of liquid. Taste, and if they need more time, cook for a few minutes more, then remove from heat, and leave covered for another 5-10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and set aside.

Simultaneously, in the farro pan, heat the remaining oil, onions, and a big ole pinch of salt until onions are translucent. Add garlic, giving it a few minutes, then add farro. Cook it up before adding two cups of the stock. I used homemade chicken stock and it was delicious! Here’s where it gets traditionally risotto: wait until the farro has absorbed the stock before adding more. Add in increments the remaining cup. This could take many minutes. Don’t rush it.

Once it’s cooked, stir in half the millet. Add more broth if needed, the risotto should be loose. Decide whether or not you want to add the remaining millet – it’s a personal preference really. I probably added about 3/4 of the millet, and saved the rest for the kids’ lunch. The millet makes the risotto take on a more porridge-like texture. Add the frozen peas that you’ve rinsed a few times with warm water. They’ll warm right up in this pot!

Now stir in most of the Parmesan. Taste, and adjust the seasoning. Add more broth if needed – again, you want the texture to be loose and creamy. A spoon should not be able to stand up straight in the risotto. 

Serves 6-8.