Insalata di Farro alla Toscana

Farro is not a trendy grain. It is possibly the oldest cultivated wheat in existence, the grain that built Rome, the food that sustained legionaries on their march across the known world. That it has become fashionable in American restaurants does not change what it is: peasant food from the hills of Tuscany, where farmers grew it because soft wheat would not thrive in rocky soil.

This salad requires restraint. Americans want to add feta cheese, kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts. They want to turn a simple Tuscan grain salad into a Mediterranean greatest hits compilation. Resist this impulse. The farro itself has flavor: nutty, slightly sweet, with a pleasant chew that no other grain matches. Your job is to support that flavor, not bury it.

The vegetables must be ripe and seasonal. Tomatoes in January will ruin this dish no matter what else you do. Wait for summer. Wait for tomatoes that smell like tomatoes. The cucumber should be crisp, the herbs freshly picked. And the olive oil must be Tuscan if you can find it, grassy and peppery, the kind that catches in your throat. This is where you taste it most directly.