Foodist Approved: Kamut Salad with Strawberries, Arugula, and Blue Cheese

by Darya Rose | May 26, 2015

Kamut salad with strawberries

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Maria Speck while she was on tour for her new book, Simply Ancient Grains. Maria’s passion for inspiring Americans to broaden their grain-repertoire is contagious. Despite being in the thick of recipe testing for my book, I was inspired to try a few of her recipes. I was thrilled when Maria happily agreed to let me share one of her favorite whole grain salad recipes on Summer Tomato.

In the recipe below, I’ve made a few adaptations to Maria’s original. Her Kamut salad is made with oranges, orange peel, leeks, and raisins, but to put to good use the produce available at the farmers market right now, I decided to give the salad a spring makeover. I swapped out the oranges for strawberries and used fresh arugula instead of the cooked leeks. I also decided to skip the raisins since my strawberries were super sweet. Lastly, I swapped lemon zest for the orange zest in the original recipe.

When I asked Maria if she was okay with my spring interpretation of her recipe she wrote, “I love it! Why not? That’s what cooking is all about.” Adore that. Feel free to experiment with your own adaptations—and if you do, share them here.

Kamut Salad with Strawberries, Arugula, and Blue Cheese

Recipe from Simply Ancient Grains, by Maria Speck. Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients

KAMUT
1 1⁄2 cups water
3⁄4 cup Kamut berries, soaked overnight and drained, or about 2 cups cooked
1 bay leaf (optional)
1 small dried red chile (optional)
SALAD
2 cups packed arugula
1 cup sliced strawberries
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon honey
1⁄2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1⁄4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1⁄3 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1⁄3 to 1⁄2 cup mild crumbled blue cheese such as Stilton
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Preparation

Add the water, Kamut, bay leaf, and chile to a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to maintain a simmer, cover, and cook until tender but slightly chewy, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to steam for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain, if needed. Transfer to a large serving bowl, remove the spices, and spread to cool.

Once cool, add the arugula and strawberries to the bowl with the Kamut.

In a small bowl, beat the lemon juice, lemon zest, honey, salt, and pepper with a fork until smooth. Slowly beat in the olive oil in a thin stream until emulsified.

To finish, pour the dressing over the salad, gently toss, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Let sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes, gently toss again, and sprinkle with the walnuts and blue cheese. Garnish with parsley and serve.

Elyse Kopecky is a whole foods chef currently co-authoring a cookbook for runners, Run Fast Eat Slow, with Olympic marathoner and longtime friend, Shalane Flanagan. After 10 years working for Nike and EA Sports, Elyse decided to pursue her passion for talking about and writing about food. She went to NYC to study culinary nutrition at the Natural Gourmet Institute and has taken cooking classes throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Sign-up for sneak peeks of Shalane and Elyse’s book at runfasteatslow.com or follow along @ElyseKopecky.

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Tags: grains, Kamut, Recipes, salad, vegetarian

3 Responses to “Foodist Approved: Kamut Salad with Strawberries, Arugula, and Blue Cheese”

Jamie Ryan Lockman says:

May 27, 2015 at 7:17 am

Maria Speck is an outstanding ambassador for whole grains! We lover her recipes and love your recipe too, Darya! Id like to share more information about KAMUT® Brand khorasan wheat with you and your readers.

KAMUT® Brand khorasan is an organic, non-genetically modified, ancient wheat variety similar to durum. In 1990, “KAMUT” was registered as a trademark by the Quinn family in order to support organic farming and preserve the ancient khorasan wheat variety. Under the KAMUT® Brand name, this khorasan wheat must always be grown organically, never be hybridized or modified, and contain high levels of purity and nutrition. Today, Kamut International owns and has registered the KAMUT® trademark in over 40 countries, and is responsible for protection and marketing of all KAMUT® Brand khorasan wheat throughout the world.

Kamut International promotes and protects the KAMUT® brand name by focusing efforts on supply chain integrity, trademark monitoring, research, education, marketing, and customer relations. These activities are supported in part, through a no-cost trademark license agreement with companies using the grain in products they manufacture and /or sell. The trademark license agreement facilitates establishing a supply chain that can be reviewed, thus ensuring the integrity and purity of the grain.

KAMUT® wheat is grown on dryland certified organic farms primarily in Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Khorasan wheat is distinctive because it is about two and half times larger than regular durum wheat, is elongated with a pronounced “hump,” and is uniquely vitreous, with a rich golden color The grain is prized by consumers who appreciate the grain for its high energy nutrition, easy digestibility, nutty/buttery taste, and firm texture. KAMUT® khorasan wheat is higher in protein, selenium, amino acids, and Vitamin E than most modern wheat and contains essential minerals such as magnesium and zinc. It is used as whole grain berries, whole grain flour, white flour, flakes, and puffs to make a variety of products. Some specific benefits of using KAMUT® khorasan are receiving more nutrients, protein, and taste than most commonly consumed whole wheat – plus supporting organic agriculture and helping to preserve an ancient grain.

Khorasan is a variety of wheat thus has gluten content. A lot of people who are not able to tolerate wheat tell us that they are able to tolerate KAMUT® khorasan wheat. KI has ongoing research to understand why – it is our theory that because KAMUT® khorasan is an ancient grain, it retains the qualities that made it desirable so many years ago.

Please visit the Kamut International website at http://www.kamut.com to learn more. And follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with the latest news!

My kind regards – Jamie

Jamie Ryan Lockman | Regional Director – North America
Kamut International, Ltd.
P.O. Box 4903 | Missoula, MT 59806 | USA
406.251.9418 phone | 406.251.9420 fax
jamie.lockman@kamut.com | http://www.kamut.com

Reply
- Elyse says:
  
  May 27, 2015 at 11:27 am
  
  Hi Jamie,
  So glad you like our recipe. It was a pleasure to meet Maria Speck during her visit to Portland. Thanks for taking the time to share more about the history behind the legendary Kamut berry.
  Elyse
  
  Reply
  - Maria Speck says:
    
    May 27, 2015 at 8:13 pm
    
    So happy to see your creative adaption. Thank you, Elyse!