Our son brought a guest to dinner this week and I always like to come up with something fun. An Orzo Vegetable Salad with garden produce turned out to be a great choice. Everyone raved and making it was almost as much fun as setting the table for four. It gets quiet around here these days!
In spite of my recent garden woes, I was pleased to be able to walk out and harvest fresh produce for a nice Mediterranean dinner of marinated sirloin & chicken strips, hummus, pita and a delightful Orzo Vegetable Salad. I may have to share the marinade recipe in a future post. It was delicious as well.
If you’ve ever read recipes here before then you know I’m not a measure it by the book kind of cook. I like to just dive in and add my own touches using the ingredients I want. This one resulted in a “keeper” and even the left-overs were gone inside of 24 hours, so I thought I’d share!
- Start by cooking 1 Cup of Orzo. Don’t go over the 10-11 minutes cooking time. Drain immediately and rinse with cold water, then set aside to cool.
- Slice the following vegetables or some of your own choosing into thin half-slices: 1/2 a medium zucchini, 2 firm Roma tomatoes and 1/2 a yellow pepper.
- Add a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of white wine vinegar to the veggies and stir to coat evenly. Season to your liking with some cracked pepper & sea salt.
- Combine the Orzo with the vegetable mixture.
- Finally, add the juice from half a lemon and any fresh herbs you enjoy. I added garlic, green onion & basil from my kitchen garden.
- For a bit more zest you can add some Kalamata olives and top with feta cheese.
And there you have it! A yummy, healthy, summer salad that is a delight to the taste buds and beautiful to serve for any occasion.