Tatsoi and Farro Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast

So , I will start by making this disclaimer.....

By no means am I a food blogger or expert on food, but I think I am a decent home cook. 

With that in mind, I decided that this week ,I would blog about what we are are making each evening with our co- op basket goodies. I think it is helpful to see what others are doing . I also know that I am a very forgetful person so blogging will give me a reference in the future for when I am trying to remember what it is I did with Tatsoi. 

You should know that I like really simple food and that  there are no exacts or measurements because that is not how I cook

So here we go........

 Tatsoi and Farro Salad with Roasted Chicken Breast

  

Preheat your oven to 375

I started by roasting off 2 bone in skin on chicken breasts. All I did was place them on a sheet pan, rub them with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle them with Celtic grey salt, rosemary, thyme, and pepper.

Place that in the oven and roast approximately 40 minutes.

  

In the mean time while you are roasting your chicken you can start prep on your salad

You will need  Farro, Tatsoi, Cashews, Garlic, Parmesan Cheese, Lemon, Olive Oil, and Red Pepper Flake ( Salt and Pepper) 

I started by soaking my tatsoi in cold lemon water. It can just sit there until you are ready for it. 

 Next, cook your Farro according to package directions. That basically means bring salted water to a boil, adding the directed amount of farro, covering with a lid and allowing it to simmer for 15-20 minutes. When it is done, drain it and set it to the side.

( Sorry no Picture) 

Now, wait for your chicken to be done.

When your chicken comes out you should have something like this- Yummy!

You should set that aside under some tin foil so it can rest and the juices redistribute. 

Now you can get the rest of your salad together. 

Chop up and toast the cashews in a pan over medium heat just until they are golden. Don't go any where, it happens fast. Continue to shake/ toss the pan so that you get a nice toasting on all sides or you can buy pre-roasted and salted nuts and just chop them up

While you are waiting for the cashews to toast you can smash some garlic . In our house we love the stuff so 6 cloves is about right, but adjust to your family.

Once the cashews are toasted set them aside on a plate and re-use the same pan to saute your garlic and a few shakes of red pepper flake in about 4 TBSP olive oil. I know that sounds like a lot but this is the dressing for your salad. Just cook until the garlic is fragrant and golden.

O.k. Once your garlic is golden set it to the side. Time to get that tatsoi out of the water and if you have a salad spinner, spin it! Make sure you have a dry bowl and add your tatsoi, the juice of 2 lemons, the garlic oil mixture ( still warm), 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and the cashews. Then stir and taste. Adjust salt and add pepper as desired. 

Now, take your farro, and make a nice bed for your tatsoi salad to go on top.  

Add your Salad and chicken and you are done! 

All in all the meal was a success. It really is great on it's own, just like this, but if I had to change anything, I think I would have added a few golden raisins to the salad. I had a few regular ones on hand and tossed them into mine and so did my daughter, and we both agreed we liked it a lot that way also! This meal fed a family of 5 and we had some left over. This actually makes me really happy because now, I have lunch already made for tomorrow  for my self . 

I should note that EVEN my husband liked it a lot and that's like saying that slogan from the 80's " Hey, Mikey, he likes it." in this house!

Hope you enjoyed! 

 I'll be back tomorrow, with more co-op basket meals. See you then!