Farro Salad with Orange Glazed Tempeh & Oven Roasted Grapes

Although I generally avoid soy products, I really love Tempeh. There's something about the fermented flavor and the nutty texture that I have always loved. I generally just sear it with some tamari and olive oil and serve it over rice or in a sandwich. This time though, I took inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, 101 Cookbooks, and cooked it in a reduced orange sauce which makes for a lovely amber glaze and infuses the tempeh with wonderful flavor.

I served the tempeh over a simple farro salad with oven roasted grapes and wilted greens for a yummy one dish meal. If you have never roasted grapes, it's so easy and delicious. It brings an entirely different flavor to the grapes, somewhere between wine and raisins. For the wilted greens, I used a simple braising mix of baby kale, mustard greens, chard, and beet greens. The combination of everything together packs so much flavor into a very healthy meal. This salad makes for excellent leftovers as well and is great served warm or cold the next day.

Enjoy!!

Farro Salad with Orange Glazed Tempeh & Oven Roasted Grapes

Yields 4 generous servings

1 cup pearl farro (or a wild rice- brown rice blend)

3 cups water

1/2 # seedless red grapes

5 oz braising greens

10 oz tempeh, cut into 2" triangles

juice of 3 oranges (@3/4 cup)

1 TB tamari

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1 TB mirin

olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

red chile flakes, to taste

1 oz pecorino cheese, broken into little chunks

1) In a small saucepan, bring the 3 cups of water and farro to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 35 minutes, or until farro is tender.

2) Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment (or foil). Place the grapes on the baking sheet in a single layer and toss with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, until they're just starting to burst and some are shriveling slightly.

3) Heat a bit of olive oil in a nonstick saute pan. Add the tempeh and cook to sear the outside, turning frequently, about 2 minutes. Add the orange juice, the ginger, mirin, tamari, and red chile flakes. Cover the pan and simmer, until the sauce is reduced by about 2/3 and has formed a nice glaze over the tempeh, about 10 minutes. Set the tempeh aside.

4) In the same pan in which you cooked the tempeh, add the braising mix over medium high heat. Add a sprinkling of salt & pepper and cook the greens for about 2-3 minutes, until they are wilted and most of the liquid has cooked off.

5) Place the farro in a large serving bowl. Add the roasted grapes and tempeh with the orange sauce. Toss in the wilted greens. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and chile flakes. Brake up little chunks of pecorino and sprinkle over top. Serve warm or at room temperature.