08/29/2026
A little break from pastry and or Minnesota State Fair food š
. Did you know one of many (many!) jobs in my life was as a one time recipe writer for a little CSA farm in exchange for a share of produce? Sometimes I forget about all the gigs and jobs Iāve had, Iām a real millennial in this way I guess. Anyways hereās a little recipe of sorts for a delicious end of summer produce rich, high fiber VEGAN dinner I made. In our household we have omnivores, highly selective eaters, a strict vegetarian sometimes vegan, and a peanut/nut allergic eater. This dish canāt serve us all because the kids wonāt eat it but more for me and big kid!
Garden Veg Farro with Italian Tofu
- vegan- high fiber- high protein- nut/peanut free- high yum š
Serves 4-8 depending on appetite
Make the farro in your rice cooker, I have a from and I did 1 cup Italian organic farro to 1.75 cups water plus a drizzle of olive oil and some salt, Iād say you could even do less water, next time Iād try 1.5 cups and set to brown rice setting. Once done open rice cooker and let rice cool for 15-20 minutes room temp.
Thinly slice 2 zucchini, 1 small eggplant (we used an heirloom variety that is smallish) and chop a large red pepper (deseeded) and toss these in some olive oil, salt and pepper and roast on a parchment lined baking sheet at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly crisp and brown on the edges, set aside to cool.
Thinly slice and chop into 1-2 inc pieces 1 large crispy apple, roughly chop 8-10 dates (take out the pits!), cut some cherry tomatoes in half (we did half a pint of sungolds), toss these into a medium/large stainless bowl along with 1 cup sunflower seeds. If you have herbs parsley would be great here too but we had none
Make dressing- in a small jar with a lid shake up the following: 1/4 cups apple c***r vinegar, 1/2 cup nice olive oil, 2 tsp salt, some cracked pepper, 2 large crushed garlic cloves or more, 2 tsp ish honey or maple syrup, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, juice of half a lemon. Pour this in the bowl with the apples/seeds etc.
While farro cooks make your Italian tofu. Use high-protein tofu for this, sometimes itās labeled as āpressed extra extra firm tofuā. I find this at Trader Joeās or Whole Foods. I havenāt had the same success with plain extra firm tofu just fyi. Yes even the Costco extra firm is not as firm as the others mentioned. Break the tofu into rough chunks about 1.5x1.5 inches or so. Sprinkle with cornstarch and 1 tsp salt. Shallow fry in a neutral oil or olive oil on medium on one side and sprinkle with Italian seasoning and 1/2 tsp more salt, use silicone coated tongs to flip to the other sides and sprinkle more Italian seasoning and a pinch more salt. Fry until crispy on all sides, strain the oil off and put the tofu aside into a bowl.
Assemble the salad. Toss the cool down farro into the bowl with the apples, roasted veg, dressing etc. Adjust seasonings as desired checking for fat/salt/acid/heat adding more of any desired elements. Serve scoops of the salad and top with desired amount of tofu.
Drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction for max flavor and beauty!
