Vibrant Orzo Salad with Roasted Veggies
Orzo is a variety of pasta that looks like rice. It’s especially popular in Greece and Italy, where it’s used for hot, comforting dishes, cool salads and almost anything in between! In this salad we use the Agrozimi Spelt Orzo we carry at Pinwheel, which has a little more body and texture than regular wheat orzo and is more digestible, but you can use regular orzo pasta too. Our Grilled Mediterranean Veggies make it easy to have this salad ready in minutes! It can be served as a vegetarian dish, or you can add canned tuna (we recommend an Italian variety in olive oil for the best flavor) for a heartier dish. Make more than you need; it makes a great leftovers!
Serves: 4 as a light main dish Cooking time: 12-15 min.
Ingredients
1 package Agrozimi Spelt Orzo
1 jar Elli & Manos Tomato & Thyme sauce (or favorite tomato sauce)
1.5 cups Pinwheel Grilled Mediterranean Veggies (frozen)
1 cup Pinwheel Local Sweet Peas (frozen)
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 big handful of parsley, chopped
Handful of fresh cherry tomatoes, halved
⅛-¼ cup Feta cheese to sprinkle over top
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Optional Ingredients
Olives, green or black pitted
¼ cup pine nuts, roasted very briefly in a skillet or toaster oven
1 can tuna fish in oil
Instructions
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil in a stockpot for the pasta
While waiting for the pasta water to boil, saute the garlic clove with 1 Tbsp olive oil at medium heat just until it starts to color a little bit; add the grilled veggies and saute until they soften and cook through. Then add the peas and cook another minute. Should take no more than 5 min. total.
When the pasta water comes to a boil, add the orzo and follow the cooking time recommendation on the package. We usually add a glug of olive oil to the pasta water too.
When the pasta is ready & drained (reserve a little pasta water if you want a creamier sauce), add .5 jar of the bright, herby Tomato & Thyme sauce (or 5 oz. of another tomato sauce) and heat through quickly; add the reserved pasta water for a more diluted sauce, if you prefer. Then transfer the pasta to a serving bowl and add the veggies, tomato, olives and, if using, the pine nuts, and drained tuna. Toss and taste for seasoning, adding salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil as desired.
Top with feta & parsley and serve.
