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The secret to making meal prep work is adding fresh ingredients to a versatile base. As Evelyn from the Internets rightly states, 5-day old soggy asparagus and reheated salmon (gag) are not the makings of enviable, Instagram-worthy, bring-over-your-foodie-friend meals. While her suggestion is to meal prep for a couple days, rather than the whole week, I propose the Base Method: a marinated salad foundation that shines with a variety of different flavors that can be added later. This salad is a tricked-out, lower-fat, and less involved version of that from Run Fast. Eat Slow. by four-time Olympian, Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky.
Ingredients
1 cup dry farro
2 ¼ cups water
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
⅓ cup lemon juice
2 to 3 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons white miso paste (such as Miso Master Organic Mellow White Miso)
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small bunch kale, stems removed and finely chopped
1 small head radicchio, quartered, cored, and cut crosswise into thin strips
1 shallot, very thinly sliced and split into individual rings
½ head parsley, leaves chopped (reserve stems reserved for stock)
In a rice cooker, combine farro, water, and a generous pinch of salt, then cook using the white rice setting. Once cooked, let sit and fluff well with the paddle or a spatula.
Meanwhile, make the cookbook's Lemon-Miso Dressing: combine oil, lemon juice, garlic, miso, salt, and pepper in a glass jar with a lid. Use a fork to stir in the miso, then shake vigorously to emulsify. If that’s too involved, just use ¾ cup of another olive-oil based dressing, as I did using Mother Raw Japanese Dressing.
To assemble the salad, massage the kale with ¾ cup dressing in a large salad bowl. Add the radicchio, shallot, parsley, and cooled farro to the kale, then toss again. Taste and add additional remaining dressing, salt, or lemon juice, as preferred. The farro will soak up some of the dressing, so use more and season the next day. Let sit at room temperature for half an hour or cover and refrigerate for up to five days.
Now that it’s day two and you’re already sick of this salad, mix it up. Yesterday, the kale salad was the other half to one tossed with shredded romaine lettuce and halved cherry tomatoes dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. My friend, Nimco, said it was really good and asked for the recipe, so here we are.
Today, I roasted rings of delicata squash (400 for god knows how long, just until it was crispy-brown on the edges) and will toss those rings with a slightly heated up kale salad and top with crumbled feta. (Note: though I don’t usually buy animal products myself, I was gifted with fresh, local feta when I met vendors at the closing of the Sunday Ballard Farmers’ Market on my break from my double shift at Sawyer.)
Off the top of my head, other things that would be great mixed with this salad for the next day would be:
Warm: topped with some fried eggies (ode to my mother) atop the warmed salad
Cold: mixed with chopped onion, halved tomatoes, and kalamata olives
Cold or warm: topped with seared tofu, mushrooms, and a drizzle of liquid aminos
Cold: mixed with chopped nectarine or apple, depending on the season
Paired with a soup, preferably either of my cauliflower soups
See, super versatile!