Roast Pork with Farro Salad

Today was 40 degrees and my husband brought home some baby pink tulips for me, so now I am in full-on February-Is-Basically-Spring Mode. Tonight's dish featured a few nods to spring veggies plus some hunks of pork. Like porky February plus Marchy veggies. And the best part is that I got this one from my favorite section of the Food Network magazine, where they offer low calorie dinners (under 500 calories) AND IT STILL HAS CARBS! Farro are carbs...gluten FREE carbs actually! I win again! What's my prize? Am I gluten free now? No. I hope not. Maybe just accepted as a leader of the gf society or something. Honorable member. It can be dairy-free too if you omit the pecorino romano or use your strange dairy-free cheese alternatives.

One change in my life is that my kids started back up with "activities." Joy. My prime cooking time is now carpooling time. Fine, it's great to see the excitement on their little faces to be at piano and swimming. OK not really piano, but gymnastics, which we had tonight. Not that I can see their faces because masks, but you get what I am saying. In order to make annoying 5:00pm classes work and also feed the fam, I had to do this in two parts. I prepped all the parts I could during Luca's "Go Go Gadget" hour(s) and then made the rest after we got back and were ravenous and crabby.

Recipe reprinted with permission from Food Network Magazine.

Roast Pork with Farro Salad

Active: 25 min/Total: 40 min/Serves:4

One serving is 447 calories if made per their recipe.

Ingredients

Kosher salt

3/4 cup farro 

1 large pork tenderloin (about 1 1/4 lbs.)

Freshly ground pepper

Juice of 1/2 lemon Use a small lemon. Mine was large and the mix was too runny.

2 tsp. dijon mustard, divided (oopsies)

2 cloves garlic, grated Grated, minced, what's the difference to my taste buds? I don't like grating small things because I end up grating my fingers and nails, and it takes forever.

2 T. extra-virgin olive oil

1 10 oz. package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed I only had nice jarred ones that I keep on hand for Italian family parties. I should have rinsed them because they got salty. 

2 tsp. white wine vinegar

1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese (about 2 oz.) I used Parmesan, and I thought it was a tad strong.

2 scallions, thinly sliced

2 T. chopped mint These 2 T. of mint are why I chose this recipe. I have had mint I wanted to use up and could think of nothing to do with it except muddle it with alcohol. 

Instructions 

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add farro and cook until tender, about 25 minutes, drain and set aside. I used my handy dandy Trader Joe's 10 Minute Farro (a pantry staple for moi) and forgot it wasn't 25 minute farro...resulting in a delightfully mushy texture. Minus the delight. 

2. Meanwhile,  combine the lemon juice, 1 tsp. mustard, and the garlic, in a small bowl. I had this part ready to go for when I got home to cook the pork. Season the pork with 1/2 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper. Brush pork all over with lemon mixture. Heat 1 T. oil in a large, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. I found this wasn't enough time to brown my pork how I like it. I did 3 min on one side, 3 min on the opposite side, then 2 and 2 for a total OF...10 minutes. Scatter the artichoke hearts around the pork and transfer the skillet to the oven. Roast until a thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, about 15 minutes. Transfer the pork to a cutting board; let rest 5 minutes. That was a long step. 

3. Whisk the vinegar and the remaining 1 T. olive oil and 1 tsp. mustard in a medium bowl. Add the farro, pecorino, scallions, mint, 1/4 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper; stir to combine. Slice the pork and serve with farro salad and artichokes. So I had this whole step, minus the farro ready to go and just mixed it in when I cooked it, after gymnastics.

4. I trimmed some asparagus, threw it in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted it while the pork roasted. I just wasn't confident that artichoke hearts and scallions counted as servings of vegetables.

So, overall, I made a lot of mistakes and a lot of corrections tonight, and we still licked our plates. Maybe we were hungry from all the gymnastics and carpooling. Or maybe you should make this dish!

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