The soup of farro and mushrooms is a very simple vegetarian dish, very flavorful and aromatic thanks to the presence of mushrooms. It’s a true comfort food—best enjoyed hot—which warms you on cold autumn and winter evenings; or you can prepare it when you want something light and delicious at the same time, for example after the Christmas and Easter holidays. It’s a recipe that takes little time to prepare and the farro does not need to be soaked. If you like legumes and grains, you might also be interested in recipes for soups and broths based on chickpeas and dried chestnuts, savoy cabbage, pumpkin and beans, and many others which you will find in the dedicated section on my blog under “zuppe minestre e vellutate.”
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Fall, Winter and Spring
Ingredients
- 1 cup pearled farro
- 3.5 cups mushrooms (about 9 oz / 3 1/2 cups sliced)
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1/2 onion
- to taste fine salt
- to taste pepper
- 4.25 cups water or vegetable broth (about 1 L)
Preparation
Rinse the farro well and put it in a large pot with 4 1/4 cups (about 1 L) of water or vegetable broth (farro absorbs a lot during cooking). Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. From that point it should cook for another 35 minutes approximately over low heat, leaving a small gap between the lid and the pot.
In the meantime, clean the mushrooms, break them into coarse pieces and put them in a nonstick skillet with a lid over high heat so they release some of their liquid, which we will then discard (this takes about a couple of minutes). This step is necessary only if using champignon (button) mushrooms.
Repeat this operation 2 times. Besides champignon, you can use porcini, chiodini (honey fungus), pioppini (poplar mushrooms), etc.
After 15 minutes from the boil, chop the carrots, onion and celery and add them to the farro; also add the mushrooms, adjust with salt and pepper, stir and continue cooking. If the cooking broth tends to dry out too much, prepare more boiling water to add to the farro as needed. Serve our delicious farro and mushroom soup with simple croutons or ones flavored with oil and garlic.
