It’s been a hot week!  Temperatures in the upper 90s everyday.  Just your typical hot and humid D.C. summer.  Too hot for most of my favorite greens (broccoli, dandelion, bok choy, etc.); so long until fall.  On the other hand, sun-worshipping, hot weather-loving vegetables are flourishing.  Hence, the abundance of colorful tomatoes and peppers, summer corn, eggplant, and loads of zucchini at the local farmers’ markets.  As for zucchini, can never quite figure out what to do with it beyond grilling or roasting in the oven, though I recently tried this recipe for chocolate zucchini bread (with a few minor tweaks) that turned out well.

But today, something on the lighter side sounds good…

Made this salad for a recent family get-together.  It was a big hit.  For whatever reason, people always seem to be intrigued by the humble salad.  Doesn’t matter how much time I spend prepping the other dishes, it’s the salad that I nonchalantly whip together using whatever seasonal vegetables I have lying around and toss with a quick homemade dressing or, sometimes, just good old extra-virgin olive oil, that garners all the attention.

While this may not be your ordinary green salad, in the end, it’s still just a simple little salad; well, maybe just kicked up a notch.

First, the dressing — lime-cilantro.  There’s a healthy amount of lime juice in the dressing, which adds a nice tanginess and acidity, and just a tiny bit of heat on the back of your palate from the chiles (serrano or jalapeno).  Ditto for the red onions, which are marinated in lime juice and sea salt.  Both pair nicely with the pan-roasted corn and fresh tomatoes.  Summer in a bowl.

There’s also farro in the salad.  What exactly is farro you ask?

While farro seems to be hip and trendy nowadays, it’s actually a very ancient grain.

True farro — also know as emmer wheat or triticum dicoccum — is an unhybridized Italian wheat-like plant (with two spikes).  Thousands of years ago, farro was brought by the inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of wheat, to the region that is now Italy.  However, farro is not wheat, but rather a grain all its own.

Farro has a complex nutty taste, with a chewy texture.  It is easily digested and naturally low in gluten.  Farro can be ground and simmered like corn to make polenta di farro (next on my list to try).  It can take the place of rice in rice pilaf.  It can also replace Arborio rice in risotto (farroto) such as this.  As well, farro can be used in soups.  Ground into a flour, it can be used in breads and pasta.

And one of the best things about farro, it only requires about 20 minutes of cooking time.  Keep your eyes open for farro in the bulk aisle of your grocery store.

I just love how colorful this salad is — all natural, no added food colorings or dyes — just nature at its best…

For the pickled onions…

All you need are red onions, lots of lime juice, and a little sea salt.  As the onions marinate, the lime juice turns the onions a magnificent shade of magenta.