Mushroom Farro with Ground Beef

Mushroom Farro with Ground Beef is a hearty, richly flavored main dish. Farro grain is a great ingredient to stock up on; if you have done so this dish can be easily made with ingredients on hand. Read on for details, including our wine pairing suggestion. Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

This Mushroom Farro with Ground Beef was one of the first meals I made during our first week practicing social distancing — or “physical distancing” as I prefer to call it. 

This hearty dish definitely qualifies as the comfort food we need, but also packs plenty of nutrition. I’ll break down the ingredients that make this work, noting how these ingredients work as part of an emergency food stockpile.

Ingredients for this recipe — and to keep on hand!

This recipe uses ingredients that are great to have on hand. Some you probably already, and others you might want to think about adding to your food supply!

Farro is a hearty ancient strain of hard wheat popular in Italian cooking. Farro is a nutritious grain, high in protein fiber and other nutrients. I encourage you to stock up on farro! A little goes a long way. Lately I’ve using the Nature’s Earthly Choice pearled farro, which can be found at local grocery stores and also seems to be in stock on Amazon as of this writing. 

Ground beef is a great staple to keep in your freezer, if you eat meat even occasionally. I prefer grass fed ground beef for its nutritional value. We have several 1 pound packages in the freezer. This recipe only uses ½ pound, leaving enough for two burgers the next night. Stretching our meat is a good strategy these days!

Mushrooms: I bought sliced mushrooms, so needed to use them pretty quickly. But stocking up on dried mushrooms and reconstituting them is a great idea for your pantry! We love using dried porcini! For details on how to reconstitute dried mushrooms, scroll down to the middle of our Porcini Mushroom Beef Stew article for details and photos.

Onions keep well for an extended time in a cool, dark place like the basement. I got a big bag when stocking up to add flavor to all kinds of dishes!

Block of cheese: Buy a block of Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, and shred what you need for this dish. Sealed well after using, hard cheeses like these can last a couple of weeks in the freezer.

Extra virgin olive oil: Make sure you have plenty of evoo when you stock up! It can be used for cooking recipes like this, and is a great starting point for homemade dressings.

Garlic A head of fresh garlic lasts for weeks. We keep ours in a little storage container on the counter — which is typically overflowing! Garlic is not something I would want to run out of!

Dried herbs Fresh herbs are great, but they are very fleeting in the fridge. Keeping a good variety of herbs on hand helps to have flavor options without making many trips to the store.

Wine Pairing

We have enjoyed this Mushroom Farro recipe with a Merlot as well as an Italian red wine from Sicily.

October is known as #MerlotMe month, which has had me focusing on the grape. I was reminded that Merlot can work well with tomato based sauces and is great with mushrooms, so I thought I would try one with this hearty dish the last time we made it.

I opened the 2018 Longboard Merlot Dakine ($39, 13.9% ABV) from the Russian River Valley. The grapes are from the winery’s estate vineyard, and include 17% Malbec along with the Merlot. The wine was provided as a complimentary sample.

The Longboard Merlot has notes of brambles and violet on the nose. On the palate, the Merlot has blackberry fruit, notes of charcoal. Firm tannins and medium acidity. A well-balanced wine. That acidity and structure makes the Longboard Merlot a great pairing for the Mushroom Farro with Ground Beef!

Visit our Merlot Food Pairing article for more delicious pairings with this grape!

The first time we served this farro recipe, I opened a bottle of 2017 Planeta Sicilia Cerasuolo di Vittoria (13% ABV), a blend of 60% Nero d’Avola and 40% Frappato.

I get forest floor on the nose of the Planeta. Bright cherry fruit with notes of charcoal on the palate. Tart acidity–good for a tomato based dish. Definitely has volcanic soil notes, not a surprise for a wine from Sicily.

I have come to be a big fan of the Cerasuolo rosés from Abruzzo. So the Cerasuolo di Vittoria term through me for a loop at first, but a bit of research shed some light on the matter. Cerasuolo di Vittoria is a DOCG wine region in Southeastern Sicily.

This Cerasuolo di Vittoria definitely works as a pairing for the mushroom farro. You could also open a good Chianti to go with this recipe. 

More recipes with farro

OK, so I’ve earlier I was extolling the virtues of farro. Let me give you a few more favorite recipes using this hearty grain:

• • • Arugula Steak Salad with Farro
    • Salmon Farro and Mushrooms
    • Roasted Root Vegetable Farro
    • Spoon Roast with Mushrooms and Farro

And while we are in the mode of suggesting other recipes, if you like this one, you might also want to try our Ground Beef and Kale recipe.

Mushroom Farro with Ground Beef

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

Mushrooms cooked with ground beef and tossed with hearty farro grain for a substantial, richly flavored meal.

• Author: Cooking Chat
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 55 mins
• Yield: 5 servings 1x
• Category: main
• Method: stove top
• Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 ozs mushrooms, sliced
• ¼ cup dry red wine
• ½ lb ground beef
• 14 ½ oz can diced tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp thyme
• 1 cup pearled farro grain (see notes)
• 2 cups water
• ¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese or parm
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley (optional)

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Instructions

1. Sauté onion: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet on medium low heat. Add the onions, stirring occasionally. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften.
2. Add mushrooms to the skillet, stir to combine with onions. Cook for about 5 minutes until the mushrooms begin to “sweat” (give off liquid). Stir in the red wine, and cook for a few more minutes until it is mostly absorbed.
3. Cook the farro: Start the farro after adding the mushrooms to the skillet. Rinse the farro in cold water. Bring the 2 cups water to a boil, then add the rinsed farro grain. Simmer covered on medium low heat until the water has been absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. When the farro is done, stir in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
4. Stir ground beef into the skillet. After the beef has cooked for a few minutes, add the garlic, followed by the tomatoes, thyme and oregano. Simmer on medium low for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the beef should be cooked through. Cover the beef / mushroom mixture and keep warm on very low heat after the beef has cooked through.
5. Finish the dish: Scoop the cooked farro into the skillet with the mushroom beef mixture, and stir to combine. Add the cheese, stirring to combine. Sprinkle a bit of parsley over the dish for presentation. Plate the farro and enjoy! Serve with a green salad or vegetable such as steamed green beans.

Notes

• The cooking time is based on pearled farro. If you use whole farro, which is even more nutritious, it will take longer to cook. Follow cooking time on the package.
• You could reconstitute dried mushrooms to use in place of fresh mushrooms in this recipe.

Keywords: farro, mushrooms and farro, beef and mushrooms, ground beef recipes.

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