Italian Watermelon, Farro and Roasted Vegetable Salad | Insalata di Anguria, Farro e Verdure Arrosto
Most summer grain salads are assembled. This one is cooked. The farro is boiled to a firm chew and dressed while still warm, the zucchini, peppers and eggplant go into a very hot oven until their edges caramelize, and only the watermelon stays raw. That contrast between roasted and raw is what separates a substantial contorno from a bowl of cold grain with things stirred into it.
Farro is the anchor. It has a nutty, faintly bitter flavour and a husk that keeps its shape however long the salad sits, the opposite of rice or couscous. Dressed warm, it absorbs lemon and oregano into the grain instead of wearing them on the outside, and that absorbed acidity is what lets the watermelon read as savoury rather than as fruit on the wrong plate.
Yield: 6 side servings. Prep: 30 minutes. Cook: 45 minutes. Cool: 30 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 45 minutes. Difficulty: easy to intermediate. Course: contorno. Region: Tuscany and Umbria, the farro country of the Garfagnana and the upper Valnerina.
The Story
Farro is the oldest cultivated grain still in daily Italian use. Triticum dicoccum, the emmer that fed the Roman army as puls, the savoury porridge that preceded bread as the staple of the peninsula, survived in the mountain valleys long after the plains had switched to soft wheat, because it grows where better paying grains will not: thin stony soils at altitude, with cold winters and short summers.
Two of those refuges are named on labels today. Farro della Garfagnana IGP comes from the valleys of the Serchio above Lucca, sown continuously since at least the Middle Ages and still described in the nineteenth century as the food of people too poor for wheat. Farro di Monteleone di Spoleto DOP grows on the Umbrian plateau at around 3,000 feet (900 m), in ground so stony the grain is threshed late and slowly. Both were nearly abandoned in the twentieth century and both were saved by rediscovery.
The vegetables belong to a different tradition, the ortolano summer of central Italy, where zucchini, peppers and eggplant arrive together in July and are cooked in a fierce oven or over embers rather than boiled. Putting them on the same plate as watermelon is the modern move, and less of a stretch than it sounds: anguria has been sold from carts at Italian summer fairs for two centuries, and the sweetness that refreshes in the heat is what answers a charred pepper.
Ingredients
For the farro
Pearled farro, 1 1/4 cups (250 g)
Water, 6 cups (1.4 L)
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (12 g)
Bay leaf, 1
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
For the roasted vegetables
Zucchini, 2 medium, 12 oz (340 g)
Red bell pepper, 1 large, 8 oz (225 g)
Small eggplant, 1, 10 oz (285 g)
Red onion, 1 medium, 6 oz (170 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Fine sea salt, 1 tsp (6 g)
Fresh thyme sprigs, 4
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the watermelon
Seedless watermelon, 1 3/4 lb (800 g) whole, 1 lb (450 g) trimmed
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For the lemon and oregano dressing
Lemon juice, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
White wine vinegar, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/3 cup (80 ml)
Dried oregano on the branch, 1 tsp (1 g)
Garlic clove, small, 1
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For finishing
Blanched almonds, 1 1/2 oz (45 g)
Flat leaf parsley, chopped, 3 tbsp (10 g)
Small mint leaves, 12 to 15
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1 lemon
Flaky sea salt, a few pinches
Preparation
Step 1: Boiling the farro to a firm chew
Rinse the farro under cold water until it runs clear, removing loose starch that would make the grains cling. Bring the water to a boil with the salt and bay leaf, add the farro and simmer steadily for 18 to 22 minutes for pearled grain, tasting from 16 minutes. You want a grain that gives under the tooth then resists at the centre, never one that has burst open.
Step 2: Cooling and oiling the grain
Spread the drained farro on a large tray in a thin layer and fork the tablespoon of olive oil through it while it is still hot. Grain left in a heap keeps cooking in its own steam and cements into a block, while a thin oiled layer stops the surface starch gluing the grains together. Leave it about 20 minutes, until it is warm rather than hot.
Step 3: Cutting and roasting the vegetables
Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Cut the zucchini into half moons of about 1/2 inch (1.25 cm), the pepper into wide strips, the eggplant into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes and the onion into eight wedges through the root so they hold. Toss everything with the oil, salt, pepper and thyme and spread it on two trays in a single layer with space between the pieces. Roast 22 to 28 minutes, turning once, until the edges are brown and the eggplant has collapsed.
Step 4: Salting and draining the watermelon
While the vegetables roast, cut the melon into cubes of about 3/4 inch (2 cm), slightly smaller than the vegetable pieces so the salad forks up evenly. Spread them on a rack over a tray, scatter the half teaspoon of salt over them and leave them 30 minutes. Without this the melon releases its water into the farro, which drinks it, swells and turns the bowl soft and pink.
Step 5: Making the lemon and oregano dressing
Crush the garlic clove with the flat of a knife but leave it whole, and rub the oregano between your palms over the bowl to break it off the branch and release its oils. Add the lemon juice, vinegar and salt, drop in the garlic and infuse 10 minutes, then lift the clove out. Whisk in the olive oil in a thin stream until the dressing thickens. Leaving the garlic whole gives perfume without the raw bite of chopped garlic.
Step 6: Dressing the farro while it is warm
Tip the warm farro into a wide bowl and pour half the dressing over it, turning it through with a fork rather than a spoon. Warm grain takes the acid and oil into its structure; cold grain carries them on the surface. Let it stand 15 minutes and taste. It will seem slightly over seasoned, which is correct, because the vegetables and melon carry almost no seasoning of their own.
Step 7: Toasting the almonds
Put the blanched almonds in a dry pan over medium heat and toast them 4 to 5 minutes, shaking constantly, until golden and sweet smelling. Tip them onto a cold plate at once, since they keep colouring in a hot pan and go from golden to burnt in under a minute. Cool and chop them roughly.
Step 8: Folding everything together
Let the roasted vegetables cool to just above room temperature, then fold them into the dressed farro with the rest of the dressing. Pat the drained melon dry and add it last with the parsley, folding two or three times only, to keep the cubes intact rather than evenly distributed. Taste for salt, add the lemon zest, and leave the almonds and mint until serving.
Plating
This is a salad served at room temperature, not chilled. Around 64°F (18°C) is right: cold mutes the oregano and the roasted sweetness of the pepper, and a bowl straight from the refrigerator tastes flat and oily as the olive oil congeals.
Serve it in a wide shallow bowl rather than a deep one. Depth compresses the vegetables and crushes the melon under their weight, while width lets the salad sit in a loose layer where the melon, the charred pepper edges and the pale grain all stay visible. Do not press it down.
Scatter the toasted almonds and the mint over the top at the table, never in the kitchen, and finish with flaky salt and a thread of olive oil. It stands up next to grilled lamb, roast pork or sea bream, and is substantial enough to carry a plate of cured meats at lunch.
Professional Technique
The governing technique here is dressing a starch while it is warm. As farro cools its gelatinized starch retrogrades, the granules reorder into a tighter structure and the grain surface closes. A dressing applied after that sits on the outside and tastes of itself. Applied at around 120°F (49°C) the same dressing is drawn inside, where the acid seasons every mouthful. This is why the farro is dressed alone, before anything else joins it.
The second is dry heat roasting rather than sauteing the vegetables. Zucchini and eggplant are both over 90 percent water, and in a pan that water has nowhere to go, so the pieces poach in their own liquid and turn grey. A 425°F (220°C) oven with the pieces spaced apart drives the moisture off as steam and lets the sugars at the cut surfaces caramelize. The test is brown edges with a still tender centre; even colour all over means they will disintegrate in the fold.
The third is the order of assembly. Grain first, dressed and rested. Vegetables second, cooled enough not to steam the grain further. Melon third, dry and folded in with minimum movement. Herbs and nuts last, at the table. Each stage is cooler and more fragile than the one before, so nothing sturdy is ever stirred into something delicate.
Texture and Moisture Control
This salad has three water problems. The farro can absorb several times its own weight in liquid, so it is cooked firm and kept away from free water. The vegetables hold their moisture until heat drives it out, which is the purpose of the hot oven. The melon holds the most and releases it continuously once cut, which is what the salting rack is for.
The common failure is a salad that is perfect on the plate and soup in the bowl twenty minutes later. It happens because the melon went in undrained, or because the vegetables went in hot and their steam was trapped under the grain. Both release water into a grain only too pleased to drink it, and once farro has swollen it cannot be firmed again.
The fat balance matters as much as the water. Roasted eggplant absorbs oil greedily and gives it back as it cools, so the dressing is built at roughly three parts oil to one of acid rather than the usual four. If the salad tastes heavy, the correction is lemon rather than more oil; if it tastes dry, a tablespoon of warm water whisked into the dressing does more than oil.
Professional Mise en Place
Everything except the almonds and herbs can be done the day before. This is one of the few salads in the style that improves after a few hours, because the farro keeps absorbing the dressing.
Equipment and tools
Two heavy sheet pans, so the vegetables are never crowded
Wide tray for cooling and oiling the farro in a thin layer
Draining rack set over a tray for the melon cubes
Small dry pan for the almonds, and a cold plate
Prepared ahead
Farro boiled, oiled and cooled, up to 2 days ahead, refrigerated
Vegetables roasted, up to 1 day ahead, covered and cool
Dressing whisked, up to 3 days ahead, garlic removed before storing
Watermelon cut, salted and drained, up to 3 hours ahead
Almonds toasted and chopped, on the day, kept dry and uncovered
Service setup
Farro dressed and rested at room temperature
Vegetables and melon held separately until the final fold
Herbs picked late and kept under a damp cloth
Almonds and mint in small dishes for finishing at the table
Chef Tips
Check which farro you have bought. Pearled farro, farro perlato, has the bran abraded off and cooks in around 20 minutes. Semipearled takes 30 and whole farro needs an overnight soak and up to 50 minutes. The three are sold in near identical bags, and whole farro cooked on pearled timings stays stony at the centre.
Roast the eggplant on its own tray if you can. It takes longer than zucchini and absorbs far more oil, and separating them lets you pull the zucchini out while it still has structure.
Buy oregano on the branch rather than the powdered jar. Rubbed between the palms it releases its oils at the moment you use them, while ground oregano has been losing them since it was packed and tastes dusty in a cold dressing.
Make it in the morning for the evening. Hold back the melon, almonds and herbs, refrigerate the dressed farro and vegetables, and bring the bowl out a full hour before serving so the oil clarifies and the oregano wakes up.
Common Mistakes
Dressing the farro cold. Once the grain has cooled its surface closes and the dressing sits on the outside, so the salad tastes of oil and lemon separately from the grain. Dress it warm and let it rest.
Crowding the vegetables onto one tray. Pieces that touch trap steam and boil instead of roasting, giving grey zucchini and watery eggplant with no caramelization. Two trays, single layer, space between the pieces.
Adding the melon undrained. The farro absorbs every drop it releases, swells and turns soft and pink. Thirty minutes on a salted rack, then blot the cubes dry, and the salad holds for hours.
Folding the vegetables in while they are hot. Hot vegetables steam the grain and keep cooking under their own heat, so the zucchini collapses and the pepper skins slide off. Cool them first.
Serving it straight from the refrigerator. Cold flattens the oregano, dulls the roasted sweetness and stiffens the olive oil. Take the bowl out an hour ahead and serve at around 64°F (18°C).
Wine Pairing
Vernaccia di San Gimignano DOCG: The Tuscan white for a Tuscan grain, and the right shape for this plate. It has more body and grip than most Italian whites, enough to stand against roasted eggplant, and finishes on a dry bitter almond note that lands directly on the toasted almonds in the bowl. Its firm acidity handles the lemon in the dressing without either one shouting.
Orvieto Classico DOC: The Umbrian neighbour of the Monteleone farro fields, from the tufa cliffs above the Paglia. A dry Orvieto Classico is softer and more floral than the Vernaccia, and that softness suits the sweetness of the roasted pepper and the melon. Choose a secco rather than an abboccato, since residual sugar would push the plate too far toward fruit.
Offida Pecorino DOCG: From the Marche hills, and the pick when the oregano is prominent. The Pecorino grape carries a herbal, almost aniseed aromatic that meets dried oregano head on, and it holds unusually high acidity even at full ripeness. That acidity cuts the oil the eggplant gives back as it cools, which is the part of this salad that most often defeats a lighter white.
Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo DOC: A deeply coloured dry rosato from Montepulciano grapes, and the most versatile bottle here. It has the cherry fruit and light tannic grip of a red with the chill and acidity of a white, so it follows the char on the vegetables and the raw sweetness of the melon at once. Serve it at around 54°F (12°C).
Verdicchio di Matelica DOC: The inland and more austere of the two Verdicchios, grown in a valley running north to south rather than toward the sea. It is leaner and more mineral than its Castelli di Jesi cousin, with a saline thread and a long bitter almond finish, and that severity gives the sweetness of the watermelon something hard to push against.
Storage & Reheating
This salad is unusual in that the assembled version holds. Farro and roasted vegetables in their dressing keep 2 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator and are arguably better on the second day. The melon is the limit: once folded in it gives the salad about 6 hours before the grain begins to soften, so fold it into only the portion you intend to serve.
Take the container out of the refrigerator a full hour before serving. This salad is never reheated and never served cold, and that hour is what brings back the oregano and the olive oil. If it looks tight and dull, revive it with a tablespoon of fresh dressing and a squeeze of lemon rather than more oil.
Cooked farro freezes well on its own, undressed and spread flat in a bag, for up to 3 months, and thaws with its texture intact. Roasted vegetables come back watery and are better used in a soup. Never freeze anything containing the watermelon, which thaws as pulp and liquid. Toasted almonds keep 3 days in a sealed jar.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 6 side dish portions:
Calories: 340 kcal
Total Fat: 19 g
Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 16 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 340 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 38 g
Fiber: 6 g
Total Sugars: 9 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 8 g
Lactose: 0 g
Principal micronutrients: vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, folate, magnesium, manganese, iron, potassium, lycopene
These figures are estimates. The dish contains no dairy, and the sodium figure assumes most of the salt in the farro water and on the melon rack is discarded rather than eaten.
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