Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

We stew it with a chunked up kielbasa, sliced onion and chicken stock, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Then serve it over a boxed red beans and rice mix...usually Zahtarans...it is so good and a easy weeknight meal.

I found farro at whole foods outside of Boston and I made this soup adding a parmesan rind while it simmered and subsituting chicken for beef broth. My family is already asking when will I make it again. It was fabulous, especially since it decided to snow here the day I made it!!

@oriana: This New York Times article explains that spelt and farro aren't the same, but are often confused for one another.

@blindermo: Thanks for pointing that out. The farro is added at the same time as the stock; I've added it to the procedure.

I love farro! In New York it was always very expensive--$8 or more a pound--but now that I'm in San Francisco it is easy to find the same brand for more like $3/pound. Now we get to eat it much more often. Looking forward to making this recipe.

I love Gina's Seriously Italian columns, and they are a wonderful example of the type of writing and recipes that explore ingredients, destinations and traditions the way Gourmet used to when it was a successful magazine. This is another outstanding example, and I'll be looking for farro perlatto or spelt to try this recipe. It sounds like the perfect fall soup.

Just to clarify the previous post, the Italian word for farro is used interchangeably for three different varieties of ancient wheat--emmer, einkorn, and spelt. Emmer is by far the most common variety grown in Italy and is typically what you'll find sold in grocery stores in the US.

Emmer wheat is rare, but there is a farm growing emmer wheat in the US in the dry mountainous region of north central Washington (ideal growing conditions). Whereas the Italian farro is usually sold semi-pearled (where the endosperm is scraped off a bit), this farm sells product that isn't pearled. It takes longer to cook, but remains al dente instead of softening. It's great for soups and other slow cooked recipes. You can read about them and shop their online store at http://www.bluebirdgrainfarms.com/

I stand corrected.

Marco Picci, a tradizionale producer in Emilia Romagna, mentions it takes a starting amount of 26 gallons of grape must to yield just 1/2 a gallon of tadizionale after the 12 year process, even less for the 24 year aged "extra vecchio" product, as mentioned in the excellent book "Vino Italiano, The Regional Wines of Italy" by Joseph Bastianich and David Lynch.

Evaporation is a bitch!

@forzapizza: Pizzablogger, who seems to have an impressive and possibly unsurpassed love of quality balsamic vinegar, is correct.

Was the tradizioanle applied before or after cooking? Cant wait to go there.

Thanks,
Alberto
www.forzapizza.com

OMG I want to cry. My mother made these for us all the time. First, out of financial necessity; then to stop us from clamoring for them.

Her favorite bread crumb-stuffed veg was the Italian Fryer (called Cubanelle in some markets). An easy mix of olive oil, bread crumbs, chopped parsley, chopped garlic, and chopped Kalamata olives, they were made in a pan on the stovetop. Bells were stuffed with rice and meat, then baked.

I miss my mother.