Springtime Vegetable Grain Bowls with Mint Salsa Verde

Spring is coming and there are signs of it all over the city! My morning walks are just the best with the beautiful blooming cherry blossom trees and my Farmer’s Market trips are more inspiring than ever with all of the beautiful, early Spring produce! I scored some insanely beautiful purple cauliflower the other day and you would have thought I won the lottery with the level of excitement it brought me LOL.

Over on Instagram, a lot of you have requested more vegetable-forward dishes so I want to share a really simple roasted vegetable grain bowl recipe that has been on repeat at our house lately! It’s so delicious and the bright, minty, fresh salsa verde brings those springtime flavors to the forefront. It takes an ordinary grain + veggie bowl over the top!

Something great about this recipe is that you can completely customize it based on what you have at home. Have a lot of basil? Sub out the mint for basil in the salsa verde! Prefer roasted carrots over squash? Sub a bunch of carrots in for the delicata squash — endless possibilities!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the bowls:

• 1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets

• 2 bunches baby broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

• 1 delicata squash, sliced into half-moons

• EVOO

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 cup farro

• 4 heaping cups arugula

• 3 radishes, thinly sliced

• Maldon Salt

• 4 eggs, poached, soft boiled or fried

For the mint salsa verde:

• Leaves from 1 bunch mint

• Leaves from 1 bunch parsley

• 1 Tbsp minced preserved lemon rind (or 1 Tbsp lemon zest)

• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (from 1/2 of a lemon)

• 1 Tbsp champagne vinegar

• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

• Kosher salt

• 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Roast the vegetables. Pre-heat your oven to 425 degrees F. Transfer the cauliflower florets, pieces of baby broccoli and delicata squash to two sheet trays. Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer to the oven to roast for 15-20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and golden brown, flipping the vegetables half way through cooking. Allow the roasted vegetables to cool to room temperature.

2. Cook the farro. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt generously (like you would when cooking pasta) and add in the farro. Stir and allow to cook until the farro is tender with a slight bite, about 30-35 minutes (cook time depends on the type of farro you have). Drain and set aside to cool (life hack: to cool quicker, spread the farro out on a sheet tray in a single layer).

3. Make the mint salsa verde. Add the mint, parsley, preserved lemon (or lemon zest), lemon juice, champagne vinegar, red pepper flakes and a big pinch of kosher salt to a food processor. Process ingredients until finely minced. With the food processor running, slowly stream in the extra virgin olive oil. Transfer the salsa verde to a bowl and add more kosher salt, to taste.

4. Assemble the bowls. Divide the arugula and farro among each bowl. At this point, I like to drizzle the arugula/farro with a little olive oil and season with a pinch of maldon salt. Divide the roasted veggies among the bowls and top with the thinly sliced radishes and egg. Generously drizzle the salsa verde on top and enjoy!