MONDAY MORNING RECIPE - GREEK ORZO SALAD - SERVES 4

Another salad this week, this time with an Orzo pasta. There are variations of Orzo recipes on this blog, all very good.  I am happy to have found this one at Living Lou, hosted by Lou (Louisa Clements).  The original recipe can be found here.  Another for our favorites folder.  It was delicious!  Light and refreshing and perfect for summer days.  

It is also vegetarian.  You can add a protein but it is perfect as the main course as is.  I am thinking of adding garbanzo or black beans next time to round it out.  I also really love those Kalamata olives in this (already one of the ingredients).  You can change things around to include your own favorites.  

Thank you very much Lou!  If you want to read Lou's tips on this recipe, I highly recommend visiting her blog.  She also has great recipes not only to go with this one, but there are many others I would like to try later.

Greek Orzo Salad - serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes 

Cooking time: 10 minutes 

Total time: 20 minutes 

I am adding the above times of Lou’s basic guideline.  It always takes me longer as I pace myself, it may take you shorter, just saying.

You can make this the day before but if you do, add a little olive oil and mix in before stirring, just to loosen the pasta up a little.  This is Lou's suggestion.

For salad dressing:

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar (we used rice wine vinegar)

1 clove garlic, grated

½ tsp salt

½ tsp dried oregano

For pasta salad

1-½ cups orzo

3 Persian cucumbers, or half a regular cucumber, chopped

1 225g package cherry tomatoes, halved (this works out to 7-7/8 ounces for us in the U.S. according to a a conversation chart online.  I bought a small container of cherry tomatoes and added them until I thought it was enough, which turned out to be the whole container.   Use however much looks good for you.)

½ green bell pepper, chopped

2 tbsp minced red onion

½ cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

Get all ingredients measured out and ready to go.

In a measuring cup, whisk all ingredients for the dressing together.

Meanwhile, bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil, add orzo and cook according to package directions. 

Drain and toss with half of the dressing while still warm. Allow to cool.

Stir in cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper, minced red onion, Kalamata olives, and feta followed by remaining dressing.

Serve and enjoy!

Full website address for those who prefer to cut and paste is:

https://www.livinglou.com/greek-orzo-salad/

The only changes I made today is in using a red sweet pepper instead of the green one.  Neither of us are too fond of the green.

Absolutely loved the salad dressing in this.  In another dressing I saw later, they added the lemon zest.  We both liked the sound of that.

Gregg suggested adding hot red pepper flakes, which sounds good.  However, I am sticking to without for now.  He will add the flakes to his plate at the table as a garnish.  I must be going through my ‘no heat added, thank you’ phase.  I just liked the recipe as is.  

We did substituted Japanese Rice Wine Vinegar instead of the White Wine Vinegar.  It suits our tastes perfectly.  Not sure how it would alter the taste from the White Wine Vinegar, which would be more in keeping with the Greek theme.  I don't use it often enough for me to buy a bottle when we are happy with what we have already in stock. We have used the rice wine vinegar several times in other recipes, and the results have always been very yummy, as was this one.

Because there are 4 servings to this meal, we will have the leftovers tomorrow. As much as we both enjoy putting something new together, it is always nice not to have to fuss to put a nutritious meal on the table the next time.