Roasted Cauliflower Salad w/ Freekeh & Fried Prosciutto

Looking thru the October issue of Food & Wine, I came across a beautiful looking salad titled Farro Salad w/ Fried Cauliflower & Prosciutto.
I bookmarked it hoping to make it, but knew I never would.

I knew my husband would never eat anything called farro, sounds too healthy for him. But since I am on a healthier eating kick, I figured why not try it after all.

I went to Trader Joe's and asked for farro. Nope. No one there had ever heard of it.
Ok, I told them it was a type of bulgur wheat or grain.

Nope. Still no one could help me with farro.

Then I found a product, called FREEKEH, it looked like farro, and was fully cooked in a package. So I winged it, and bought it.

Freekeh was a good substitute for farro. It is a cereal grain made from green wheat and is found mostly in Arabic countries such as Egypt, Algeria and Jordan. It's used mostly in Middle Eastern cooking.
I found it had a wonderful nutty flavor, and the fact that it was already cooked, was half the battle.



More changes to the original recipe:

Instead of frying the cauliflower, I roasted it with some kosher salt & olive oil at 425 degrees, as I always do. I pan fried the prosciutto to make prosciutto bits and also added golden raisins for a little sweetness.

I loved it.

You can omit the prosciutto to make this a healthy vegetarian dish.

I will admit, the carnivore husband did not like it all. Way too healthy for him.
(He didn't like the name FREEKEH either. He thought it sounded "freaky").



"FREAKY" CAULIFLOWER SALAD:

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
olive oil & kosher salt

package of already cooked Freekeh (green wheat)
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 lb. prosciutto, cut into pieces
5 tbsp of fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup of good extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped
handful of golden raisins

Arrange your cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 425 for about 20 minutes until browning. Set aside.

Open your package of cooked Freekeh and place in a large bowl.
Add golden raisins, chopped parsley, lemon juice & olive oil.

In a small frying pan, cook your prosciutto pieces until they are getting crispy, about 5 minutes, then add your chopped garlic at the last minute to the pan.



Add your crispy prosciutto bits and cooked garlic to the freekeh mixture.

Add your roasted cauliflower to the bowl and mix all ingredients.

This was FREAKIN' good!