Zovs Orzo Salad Recipes

ORZO AND WILD RICE SALAD

Steps:

• Bring the wild rice and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender but not mushy, 20 to 45 minutes depending on the variety of wild rice. Drain off any excess liquid, fluff the rice with a fork, and cook uncovered 5 minutes more. Once finished, spread into a shallow dish, and refrigerate until cold.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the orzo pasta, and cook until al dente, 7 to 8 minute. Drain, rinse with cold water, and chill.
• Place the chilled rice and orzo into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the red onion, currants, corn, yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, and green bell pepper. Season with 2 tablespoons basil, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard, garlic, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, and 1 1/2 teaspoons basil. Slowly whisk in the canola and olive oils until emulsified. Stir the dressing into the pasta, and refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Drain the orzo through a strainer. Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely.
• Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.
• Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.
• Yield: 1 3/4 cups

MEDITERRANEAN ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook orzo in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, about 9 minutes. Drain well. Rinse with cold water and drain well again.
• Combine orzo, cherry tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, olives, and Asiago cheese in a large bowl.
• Whisk garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl to make the vinaigrette. Drizzle over the orzo mixture and toss lightly to combine. Add basil and parsley and mix well. Let sit for 20 minutes for flavors to blend, stirring occasionally.

EASY ORZO PASTA SALAD

Steps:

• Cook orzo until tender. Cool.
• Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk.
• Combine orzo with remaining salad ingredients.
• Toss with dressing and season with salt and pepper.
• Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving

ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Prepare the pasta according to the package directions, or until slightly past al dente. Drain the orzo and toss it with a little olive oil, so that it doesn't stick together. Spread onto a baking sheet to cool.
• Prepare the Greek Salad Dressing and add in the red wine vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, and sea salt.
• In a large bowl, toss together the cooked orzo, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, feta, red onion, and olives. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, add half the herbs, season with freshly ground black pepper, and toss to coat. Garnish with the remaining herbs and serve.

HERB-LOVERS LEMONY ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Cook the pasta in a large stockpot of generously-salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain pasta then rinse thoroughly in a strainer with cold water until the pasta is chilled. Transfer pasta to a large mixing bowl.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the mixing bowl (using cheese if desired). Toss until evenly combined. Taste, and season with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper, to taste. (I used about 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.) Also feel free to add in extra lemon juice if you'd like an extra-lemony salad. (
• Serve immediately. Or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

GREEK ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Cook orzo according to package directions; drain. In a large serving bowl, toss orzo with 2 teaspoons oil. , In another bowl, combine the onion, parsley, vinegar, oregano, salt, sugar, pepper and remaining oil; pour over orzo and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2-24 hours. Just before serving, gently stir in tomatoes, cucumber, olives and cheese.

MEDITERRANEAN ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Cook the orzo pasta according package instructions (mine took about 8 minutes). Drain and cool briefly.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the grape tomatoes, green onions, bell peppers, parsley, dill, olives and capers (hold the feta for now). Add the orzo pasta.
• Make the dressing. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, lemon zest, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, oregano and a good pinch of kosher salt and black pepper. Whisk to combine.
• Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until well combined and the orzo pasta is well coated with the dressing.
• Top with pieces of creamy feta cheese. Cover and refrigerate for a bit before serving.

ZOV'S ORZO SALAD

Steps:

• Bring large pot of water to boil with 1 t salt. Add asparagus and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer asparagus to an ice water bath (reserving the boiling salted water.) Cook orzo in the same water for about 8 min. Drain the orzo but do not rinse it. Put in large bowl and toss the orzo with 2 T of oil and cool to room temp. Heat remaining 2 T of oil in large skillet. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 min. Reduce heat to medium and add shallots and garlic. Saute until the liquid from the mush. evaporates and the mix is golden brown, about 5 min. Add the mix to the orzo. Add asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, cheese, mint, olives and basil to the orzo. Toss with vinaigrette. Sprinkle pine nuts over the salad. Garnish with teardrop tomatoes.