Sausage & Mushroom Farro Pilaf
This dish is everything I want on a chilly December night: it is jam-packed with delicious flavor, and the chewy nuttiness of farro is extremely satisfying. It's also a great large-batch meal to get you through several dinners!
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary sub 1/4 teaspoon dried
- 4 cloves garlic
- 8 ounces pre-sliced baby bella or button mushrooms
- 1 cup uncooked farro
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 lb sweet/mild Italian sausage casing removed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium Tamari sub soy sauce
- 1 1/4 cups frozen green peas
Instructions
- Dice onion into 1/4 inch pieces. Mince 1 teaspoon rosemary. Mince garlic. Used damp paper towel to wipe any dirt off of mushrooms. Set everything aside.
- Rinse and drain farro in a fine-mesh strainer. Add chicken stock to a medium-sized pot and bring to a simmer on medium heat. Add farro, bay leaves, sea salt and pepper. Turn heat to the lowest setting, cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes, until farro is tender but still has some ‘chew’.
- While farro is cooking, line a large dinner plate with paper towel. Add oil to a large skillet or pot and heat to medium. When oil is lightly bubbling, add sausage. Allow to cook 2-3 minutes without stirring to get a nice golden brown crust. Then use a firm spatula to flip and repeat, closer to 1-2 minutes on this side. Then use spatula to break up the sausage and continue to cook, stirring, until no pink remains.
- Turn heat to low and remove sausage to paper-towel-lined plate. Add onions and mushrooms to the pan, along with a splash of water. Cook, stirring every minute or so, until mushrooms are softened and onions have golden-brown edges, around 10-12 minutes. Add rosemary, garlic, molasses and tamari and cook, stirring, another minute, until garlic and rosemary are fragrant. Add sausage and farro back into the pan and turn up to medium heat. Cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated, around 5 minutes. Turn off heat and stir in green peas. Taste for salt and add accordingly. Serve immediately.
