This winter salad is dressed up with toasted farro, roasted garbanzo croutons, sliced pears, heirloom tomatoes, creamy avocado, fresh gorgeous greens and a killer dressing. This was the perfect salad for our Sunday night dinner. With the farro and garbanzos, it easily serves as an entree salad. I think it’s very adaptable for the addition of grilled chicken or changing out the pears for grilled nectarines to make it a summer salad.  The dressing is amazing and comes together in minutes. Some people in our household slathered it on turkey avocado sandwiches, which was ridiculously good.

makes 4-5 salads

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 C farro
  • 3 T extra virgin olive oil, split between farro and garbanzos (see directions)
  • 2 C organic garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 1/2 lb of organic green beans. trimmed and cut into 2″ lengths
  • 4 C organic mixed greens
  • 2 organic pears, sliced with skin
  • 2 organic apples, sliced with skin
  • 2 avocados, peeled and sliced
  • 10 heirloom tomatoes, halved (plus more for dressing)
  • 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
  • Sprigs of fresh dill

TOMATO AIOLI DILL DRESSING

  • 1 shallot, peel and chopped
  • 1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (approx one tablespoon)
  • 1 T aioli mustard (we used Trader Joe’s)
  • 10-12 organic heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half (we found these at Market of Choice)
  • 1/4 C fresh organic dill, stemmed and chopped (you can use dried if you can’t find fresh)
  • 2 T apple cider vinegar
  • 2 T fresh organic lemon juice
  • 1 tsp fresh organic lemon zest
  • 1-1/2 T honey
  • 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

I used the blender to pull all this together. Add all your ingredients and blend while drizzling olive oil into mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Store in glass jar in refrigerator for up to one week.

SALAD ASSEMBLY

On a large platter or large salad bowl, begin by laying down the organic greens. Top with spoons full of farro. Sprinkle on the garbanzos and then nestle in all other ingredients. Drizzle with dressing and garnish with fresh dill.

COOK’S NOTES

  • We added crumbled goat cheese to this salad.  A great match up with the pears.
  • I think a simple herbed crouton would go nicely with this salad, particularly if you’re serving it as an entree.
  • As mentioned, this dressing is delicious as a spread on sandwiches, but also roasted vegetables like cauliflower!