Serves 4
Farrotto is like risotto, but made with farro instead of riso, which is Italian for “rice.” It’s a traditional Italian dish, not a whole-grain stand-in for risotto. Since Italians cook for flavor, not for health, farrotto is delicious. And just happens to be healthy. This farrotto is cooked with stock made from corn cobs, which makes for an intense corn experience, and is also my way of making sure you don’t try making this with frozen corn. Don’t try. It’s all about the corn, so if it’s not corn season, make something else, such as Butternut Squash Risotto (here) or Millet Polenta with Wild Mushrooms and Parmesan (here).
5 ears corn, shucked, kernels cut from the cob, and cobs reserved
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Olive oil
½ large Spanish yellow onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup farro, rinsed
½ cup dry white wine
1 pint small sweet cherry tomatoes (such as Sungolds or Sweet 100s)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for grating or sprinkling over the finished dish
Handful of fresh green or opal (purple) basil leaves (the smaller the leaves, the better)
Put the corn cobs in a tall stockpot with an insert, if you have one, or in any large pot and add 10 cups water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the liquid has reduced by half. Strain the stock or lift out the insert and discard the cobs.
Meanwhile, put 1 cup of the corn kernels in a blender or mini food processor, add a splash of the corn water, and puree, adding more water if necessary to get things moving. Set aside.
Choose the smallest saucepan you have, preferably one with a light-colored bottom to brown the butter in. Add the butter and heat over medium heat until it begins to bubble and spurt, 3 to 5 minutes. Cook the butter, swirling the pan so it cooks evenly, until the butter has a nutty, toasted aroma and is clear with brown specks (those are milk solids), about 5 minutes. Pour the butter into a small bowl, otherwise, the milk solids will burn from the heat of the pan and the butter will be bitter instead of yummy. Set aside.
Pour enough olive oil into a medium saucepan to coat it and heat the oil over medium heat for 1 minute just to warm it slightly. Add the onion and whole corn kernels, season with the salt, and cook until the onion is tender, about 6 minutes, stirring often so the vegetables don’t brown. Add the farro and toast, stirring often until the grains begin to crackle, about 3 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until the farro has drunk the wine, about 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium-high and stir in the corn puree and a big ladleful (about 1 cup) of the corn stock. Cook, stirring often, until the farro has absorbed the liquid. Continue cooking the farro, adding the stock a ladle- or cupful at a time and allowing the grains to absorb the stock each time before adding more, until the farro is creamy and the grains are tender and have burst open, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Add ½ ladleful of stock and cook for a few minutes, until the farrotto is a loose and spoonable consistency, like porridge, not so runny that you couldn’t eat it with a fork. If the farrotto gets too dry, add more stock or water. Stir in the tomatoes and cook for a minute or two so the tomatoes burst slightly. Turn off the heat and stir in the brown butter and Parmesan.
Spoon the farrotto into four big shallow bowls and drop the small basil leaves (or snip larger leaves with scissors) over each portion. Serve more Parmesan for sprinkling or grating at the table.
G-Free Alternative: To make this gluten-free, substitute long-grain brown rice for the farro. The rice will take more time to cook than the farro so you’ll need more liquid; if you run out of corn stock, use water.
Perfect risotto should spread like lava when you tilt the plate.