Healthy Grain Workshop

Healthy Grain Workshop

Hot Stove was joined for one evening last week by Bon Appetit’s annual “Food Lover’s Cleanse” creator, freelance food writer, and cookbook author, Sara Dickerman. Sara led a class on healthy grains—she has a wonderful way of making even the most complex things feel straight-forward and approachable, especially when it comes to healthy eating.

In this Healthy Grain Workshop, Sara introduced the class to a full variety of grains that you would find in most grocery stores. She discussed the health (and taste benefits) of using certain grains like barley, that normally get passed up. What was most inspiring about her workshop was the way in which she used grains differently than most. For example, instead of a sweet oatmeal in the morning, she demonstrated her Savory Oatmeal made with chicken stock, thyme, pancetta, and a fried egg on top.

For a pilaf, she used a combination of brown rice and green lentils, then made a quick and easy toasted saffron salt as a base and finished it with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Farro salad was upgraded with roasted celery root, mizithra, and pummelo, using the pummelo juice for a homemade dressing.

Each dish she demoed was adaptable, and would make for a great weeknight meal, leftover lunch, or elegant dinner for guests. Dress it up or dress it down!

After Sara’s demo, guests were asked to create their own farro salad, using ingredients they picked out. The class ended with a family-style meal enjoying the variety of grain dishes everyone created.

Yum! Thank you Sara!