Name: Gran Farro (Bean and Farro Soup)
Yield: Serves 6 to 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 (8-ounce) can Italian plum tomatoes, chopped; Freshly ground black pepper; 1 teaspoon sea salt; 1 small carrot, finely chopped; About 2½ cups (1 pound) dried borlotti or cranberry beans or 1½ (15-ounce) cans borlotti beans; ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil; Extra-virgin olive oil; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; 2 cups (10 ounces) whole-grain farro; 1 large onion, finely chopped; 5 leaves of fresh sage; 1 ham hock; Several marjoram buds; 1 celery rib, finely chopped

Preparation info

Serves
6 to 8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

In Nonna's Kitchen

By Carol Field

Published 1997

About

Farro, or emmer, is an ancient wheat grain that Romans ate 2,000 years ago and that Tuscans who live around Lucca and the hills of the Garfagnana continue to eat today. The grain comes as a whole berry or crushed into fine pieces and, while both are delicious cooked in this soup, the whole grain is traditional. The people of Lucca buy farro at their gastronomie, delicatessens, or at special seed and grain shops where they find it in bulk. Wherever they get it, Lucchese women c