Vindaloo Lamb and Farro Salad

I picked up some Vindaloo Seasoning awhile back and thus far had only used it in some stirfries. I also was in possession of some high quality ground lamb from Brookfield Farm in Walpole, NH thanks to Mom. I was looking for something to do with the ground lamb that wasn't meatballs and wasn't saucy (i.e. requiring one to be at the table with a napkin). The dish I've created here is a one dish meal, something you can eat in comfort on the couch without worry about a mess, or in Matt's case today, munch on while brewing beer.  In terms of this being a dish with a traditional Indian seasoning, this dish is in no way traditional, however I used some classic combinations to piece it together, lamb and farro pair well, as do lamb and mint, and the almonds and golden raisins align nicely with the vindaloo seasoning.  The dish is good for leftovers if heated up slightly (cold ground lamb can get a bit greasy), and this is also super fast.  If you use pearled farro, you can have this dish ready in about 20 minutes.The quantities below create about 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup farro
• olive oil
• 3/4 pound ground lamb, preferably local and sustainable
• 1 TBS Vindaloo Seasoning (I like Penzeys)
• 1 cup celery, diced
• 1/2 cup red onion, small dice
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup slivered toasted almonds
• 6-8 leaves of fresh mint, sliced into thin ribbons (aka...chiffonade)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Process

• Cook your farro according to package instructions to a doneness of al dente, adding a teaspoon of salt to the water.  Depending on what sort of farro you have (regular, pearled, semi-pearled), this could take between 15 and 30 minutes of cooking time.
• When farro is cooked, drain and place in a bowl, add a TBS of olive oil and toss.
• Meanwhile, while farro is cooking, brown the ground lamb over medium high heat in a little bit of olive oil.  Half way through browning, mix in the vindaloo seasoning.
• Combine lamb, farro, celery, red onion, golden raisins, almonds, mint and salt and toss well.
• Serve warm, or refrigerate and reheat slowly in microwave before serving.