Oi! Who are you calling ancient?

I fell up the stairs the other day. Now, I realize this raises a lot of questions (including "Whaaaaat?" and "How is that even possible?") but I won't get into that in a blog that purports to be about cooking (I was carrying a muffin at the time, but I don't think that is related). Anyway, I was chatting to a friend yesterday, who is a Physical Therapist, and she told me that as you get older, it isn't that you trip and potentially fall more often, it is that your reaction time is much slower, so more of those trips result in actual falls. Hmmm... as a perceptive person, I immediately grasped that she was calling me 'old'. I could have looked at this glass-half-full, and determined that, since she is a Pediatric Physical Therapist, maybe she just meant over 18. But no, that would be naive, and I'm old enough to know the perils of naivety. Sigh.

So in honor of my ever advancing age, today's recipe features an ancient grain.  Ancient grains are called thus because they have been around unchanged for millenia, and they include, Kamut, Teff,  Millet, and the Farrar favorites, farro and quinoa (the latter is technically a grain, but rather a seed, but it is usually lumped in with them). Now, I suppose I should think myself lucky that my 'friend' didn't describe me as 'ancient', but merely old. If you're a grain however, being ancient is considered a good thing (in fact some people refer to these grains with the less 'ageist' term heritage grains). As well as sharing the benefits of wholegrains, they are also often a richer source of nutrients such as protein, Vitamin B2, iron, phosphorus, copper, selenium, manganese, magnesium, calcium and zinc.

Today's featured oldie is spelt, which is a distant cousin of wheat (so not necessarily OK for those who are gluten-intolerant, but it can be tolerated by many), and is also known as dinkel wheat. It has plenty of fiber, manganese, protein and zinc.

Thanks Bob.

As someone of an advancing age, I should also note that studies have shown that the fiber content in wholegrains such as spelt has significant cardiovascular benefits for post-menopausal women....

More importantly, certainly where the younger Farrars are concerned, it tastes good. However, I did shy away from describing it to my family as an 'ancient' grain, lest they assume their mother was serving them up something old and mouldy from the farthest back corner of the fridge (you know, that ziploc bag you discover months later, with contents such that it is nigh on impossible to determine what it originally contained).

This salad disappeared off plates pretty quickly, and the scant leftovers were slurped up in lunchboxes the following day.

The recipe is taken from one of my favorite sofa-reads, Good Food magazine. This is a British publication, but you can get it internationally through an app on the iPad. It is worth a read - beautiful photography and fun recipes. Occasionally, it is hard to get hold of some ingredients (why oh why can I not buy fromage frais in this country?), but there are usually conceivable substitutions. Talking of hard to get hold of, I also found it a little challenging to get hold of spelt - I ended up finding it in one local Whole Foods, but another didn't stock it. If you can't find it, then I would definitely suggest substituting barley, farro, or bulgar wheat.

Warm Spelt Salad with Roast Tomato and Aubergine (Eggplant to you Americans out there)
Serves 6

10.5 oz spelt
1 aubergine/eggplant, trimmed and cut into 1/2" dice
2 large courgette/zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/2" dice
1.5 tsp ground cumin
3 fl oz olive oil
13 oz cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
large handful of basil leaves, julienned
large handful of Italian parsley, coarsely chopped
6 oz crumbled feta cheese
1.5 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cook spelt in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 45 minutes, or until al dente. Rinse and drain well.
3. Put eggplant and zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with cumin and drizzle with 1.5 TBSP of the oil. Season with salt and pepper and roast for 12 minutes. Then add tomatoes to the tray. Roast for further 8-10 minutes, or until eggplant is tender and tomatoes are just wilted.
4. Put spelt, roasted vegetables, basil, parsley and feta in a large bowl. Combine remaining oil and balsamic vinegar, add to the salad and gently toss.