Any pluot (a cross between a plum and an apricot) or plum will work well in this salad. Make sure that your fruit is nice and ripe – let it sit out for a day or two if you need to. The flesh should be tender but not squishy. The cherry tomatoes should also be fragrant and ripe. Store-bought cherry tomatoes will work, but if you can find a friend with a garden, all the better.

I like the addition of marjoram here, it has an anise-like quality to it that backs up the fennel nicely. However if that’s not a favorite flavor of yours, use less or leave it out all-together.

Cherry Tomato and Pluot Farro Salad

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

1 cup farro

1 ½ cups snap peas, sliced

½ fennel bulb

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

3 small pluots (or 2 large), sliced and then cut in half

1 tsp marjoram, minced

1/3 cup mint, roughly chopped

½ cup feta, crumbled

1 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

2 Tb lemon juice

1 Tb olive oil

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

2-3 pinches salt

Preheat the oven to 400°. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 Tb olive oil over medium high heat. When hot, add dry farro and toast until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water, several pinches of salt, and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, until the farro is al dente. You want it to be fully cooked but firm when you bite into it. Farro won’t necessarily absorb all of the cooking liquid, so be sure you’re tasting it to check for doneness and not just relying on the visual cue of the water. When done, drain the farro and spread it out on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place the sheet in the fridge to chill the farro, about 15 minutes.

While the farro is cooking, assemble the rest of the salad. Remove the core from the fennel bulb by cutting a wedge-shape piece from the bottom center and pulling out the attached core. Slice the bulb thinly and then cut those slices in half again.

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl (don’t forget your farro in the fridge!). Taste and adjust the lemon juice and salt as necessary.