Can I make it like Ina?

Does mine ever look like hers?

What do you do when you’ve planned to make a new dish for Thanksgiving, purchased all the ingredients, then run out of time to make it (because I insist on getting enough sleep)?

You save the dish for after Thanksgiving. That’s what I did with this Farro Butternut Squash casserole. I’ve wanted to try Farro for a few months but the “right” recipe wasn’t showing up in my life until this one did. It’s part of Ina Garten’s “Make-ahead” menu for Thanksgiving that I found on Food Network’s website.

I like the whole food ingredients. I like that I can use my homemade chicken stock. I like that Trader Joe’s sells butternut squash already cubed. I like that it includes bacon as a way to add flavor and make the dish more palatable to those whose appetites are not used to things like Farro. Other than cooking the bacon, it’s a one-pot dish. So many things to love.

Here’s the link to the recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/baked-farro-and-butternut-squash.html

 

Here’s a few notes on what I did.

• I used nitrite/nitrate-free bacon.
• I used coconut oil in place of the butter.
• I used 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (not ground) in place of fresh.
• I put the bacon and the Dutch oven into my oven at the same time for the first 30 minutes. I did this based on reading the instructions all the way through.

 

Here’s a few pics of my attempt:

“Sweating” the onions and the other ingredients are ready.

Applewood smoked bacon going into the oven. This is a great way to cook bacon! Place it on a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet.

Simmering the farro in the chicken stock along with the onions.

Butternut squash placed on top of the farro and ready for the oven. The chopped, cooked bacon and parmesan are placed on top after the first 30 minutes of baking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my final result:

Enlarge the photo to see the parmesan 🙂 Do you think it looks like Ina’s?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mine took longer to absorb the liquid so it went back into the oven for another 30 minutes. I may have goofed and not bought “pearled” farro. Other than that, the flavor was fantastic! We had it for dinner with leftover turkey, then for breakfast with scrambled eggs. Yum!