Farro salad with beets, veggies, nuts, and a creamy green herb dressing

I love making versions of this farro salad. Lately I’ve been putting beets in it (red or gold) but you could leave them out if beets aren’t your thing! It’s full of veggies, nuts and herbs and keeps well in the fridge for quick meals. If you dress it immediately it will lay a couple days, or you can dress as needed and it will stay bright and crunchy for about 5 days. 

Note: I use a combo of herbs in the dressing and salad. You can use any or all of the suggested herbs.

Creamy Green Herb Dressing:

1 cup packed fresh herbs (parsley, mint, cilantro, chives, basil, tarragon - see note)

1 clove garlic

2 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs white wine vinegar 

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup olive oil

*If you like it spicy add a little minced jalapeño or Serrano pepper

Put all dressing ingredients except oil in a blender or food processor and pulse to chop. You may need to push herbs down once or twice with a wood spoon - make sure blender is OFF when you do this! Then with blender on, slowly add olive oil in a stream. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. 

Farro Salad:

2 cups farro

3 boiled, peeled and diced beets

2 cups shredded cabbage (red or white)

2 cups veggies cut to bite size pieces (snap peas, peel pepper, blanched asparagus, cucumber, etc.)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup roasted nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc.)

1/2 cup pepitas or sunflower seeds

Big handful of chopped herbs (dill, basil, parsley, chives, mint, etc.)

Cook farro in salted water according to package directions. Drain any remaining water from farro and let cool to room temp.

In a large bowl mix farro with all the veggies, salt, nuts, seeds and herbs. Toss with dressing and salt and pepper to taste. It’s also fantastic with crumbled feta if you don’t need to keep it vegan!