Versatile Farro Blend Can Be Prepared Several Ways
Prepare Wineforest Wild Foods' Forest Farro Blend whichever way suits your fancy - as creamy farrotto, a simple side dish, or as a hearty soup. Packaged for your convenience and easy preparation, the Forest Farro Blend includes whole farro grain, wild California porcini, shiitake mushrooms, and a blend of dehydrated vegetables, herbs and spices.
For soup, simmer farro in about eight cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock until tender and finish with a drizzles of Frantoio Grove Extra Virgin Olive Oil. For a side dish for grilled meats or vegetables, simmer farro in less stock (about 4 cups) until tender, then season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley. Farrotto, or farro risotto-style, takes a bit more attention and time, but is well worth the wait. Add small amounts of hot stock slowly to the Forest Farro blend, allowing for absorption each time. Once the farro has absorbed enough stock to become tender and toothsome, fold in grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, chopped parsley, salt and pepper.
About the Producer: In 1979, Connie Green, founder of Wineforest Wild Foods, walked into one of the most well-known kitchens in the Bay Area and presented the chef with pristine chanterelle mushrooms that she had just foraged herself. This famous chef was convinced that mushrooms like that only came from Europe, and although Connie’s gorgeous fungi didn’t excite this chef, they didn’t go unnoticed. She says she owes quite a bit of her success to the dishwashers working in that and other restaurants. Many of the mushrooms that she was foraging were also native to the mountains of Mexico, and these dishwashers knew the value of her harvest of chanterelles, morels and porcini. It was with their help that her mushrooms started to capture the attention of chefs. Almost 35 years later, Connie’s mushrooms are being served in some of California’s finest restaurants from The French Laundry in Yountville, to The Slanted Door and Gary Danko in San Francisco.
