Summer Garden Salad with Farro

Our go-to summer garden salad with farro.

Destination: Mexico. As most epic love stories begin . . . it was college spring break. Mexico. Circa mid-1990s. Playa del Carmen was actually a quiet fishing village. The roads were paved in dirt and the electricity was spotty at best. Days were spent swimming with turtles and relaxing on the beach. Life was simple and ideal, if only you wouldn’t rather starve than eat lettuce on your tacos. Produce was tourist roulette, and ice cubes were vacation suicide. And despite the culinary odds, a love affair with Mexico was born.In the early days of my long-distance relationship, geographically desirable Baja was synonymous with surf trips. Two decades later, with chefs flocking to Mexico for a reboot and an ideal growing season, farm-to-table dining and year-round farmers market, quality tomatoes are as alluring as the beach. The food I now associate with Mexico isn’t necessarily traditionally Mexican. It is all grown in the gardens of places like Flora Farms and Rancho Pescadero, but how it comes together on the plate is open for interpretation. At Flora Farms, bloody marys are garnished with a veritable salad. At Hierbabuena, across the peninsula in Pescadero, the menu ranges from chile relleno’s to ravioli. All sourced within eyeshot of where they are served.The local sentiment also holds true in Tulum, where the lengths are so great to source acutely local that it feels slightly masochistic, if not extremely altruistic to do so. Listening to the rundown of how Hartwood restaurant procures produce drives home the purist desire for a back-to-the-basics approach that feels like the culinary equivalent of going off the grid. No electricity, no refrigeration. Just three ice deliveries a day and chest coolers.[tasty-recipe id="1486"]