I was visiting some friends at Intelligentsia (super cool coffee shop) a few weeks ago and I decided to stay and work through lunch after they left. There was a farro salad on the menu which sounded amazing.

I normally don’t order grain salads when I’m out, but the Warm Farro & Artichoke Salad on their menu sounded too good. As luck would have it they were out, so I had the pear salad (also delicious) but I couldn’t get the Farro & Artichoke Salad out of my mind. And when that happens, I usually find myself needing to make it the following day.

You may be wondering – what is farro? It was certainly my first time cooking with farro and I’m not even so sure that I had ever eaten it before! Farro is a whole grain that is similar to barley. It has a nice chew to it – like al dente pasta – and is related to wheat. Nutritionally speaking, farro has 100 cal, 27 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g fiber, 4 g protein per 1/2 cup cooked. More fiber than quinoa and almost as much protein!

This warm grain salad, with marinated artichokes, shallots, leeks and parmesan was just the salad I was craving. And it was really good. Really good! I packed it in Richie’s lunch (yes, I pack his lunch), I ate it for lunch, I ate it for brunch with wilted arugula and a fried egg on top (amazing!) and we ate it alongside vegetables for dinner.

Food was the main priority at our wedding. Well, I guess you could say our priority was that our guests have a great time, and to me, that means eating and drinking well.

We didn’t have a sit-down meal, but instead had stations – each station had a few different items (salad, entree, sides) with lots of passed hors d’oeuvres. One of the sides that our catering planner strongly suggested was angel hair pasta cakes. She said that they were a big crowd-pleaser and while I thought it would go over well with kids, I really didn’t think adults would be into it. I cut the order way down, but somehow she convinced me to order more and I’m so glad we did. Everyone loved them. It was actually one of the only things I ate that night and even I thought they were delicious.

Sometimes the simplest foods are the best.

When you combine the pasta with an egg, some cream and parmesan, it bakes into portable little cups that can work as an appetizer, main meal or packed in a lunch. I served our spaghetti cakes with some roasted tomatoes (tomatoes + olive oil + s & p), but marinara or a drizzle of pesto would be delicious as well.