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One of my favorite ingredients to use is Orzo.  You know, that rice shaped pasta.  It’s versatile and quick cooking.  Need a meal and only have canned or frozen veggies?  Need that summer picnic or party dish?  Need a side dish to make those leftovers seem new?  Your friend is Orzo.

Rather than start listing a bunch of Orzo recipes, I’m just going to list my basic Orzo salad recipe as well as some other suggestions for augmentation.  There are multiple reasons for this:

1. You will discover Orzo is a very flexible ingredient if you experiment on your own;
2. I usually never make the same Orzo dish twice – they are similar, but rarely the same;
3. If I listed every recipe I use Orzo for, we would be reliving that scene in Forrest Gump where Bubba lists everything you can use shrimp for.  And yes, Bubba forgot to mention Orzo/shrimp salad.

Here’s the salad I made the other evening for a wine tasting dinner.  The main course was lamb, so I wanted complementary flavors and some acidity.  This recipe will make a big party sized portion – so halve or quarter these suggestions.

1 package dry orzo (16 oz)
½ cup of good olive oil (I use homemade garlic infused)
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¼ cup fresh chopped Italian Parsley
¼ cup fresh chopped Cilantro
¼ cup fresh chopped Mint
½ cup red onion (finely chopped)
½ tablespoon of garlic paste or minced garlic
1 pint cherry tomatoes (halved)
2 cups frozen peas
3 good pinches of kosher or sea salt
3 good pinches of black pepper
1 pinch chili powder

Start to cook the orzo according to the package instructions.  You will want to cook and then cool the pasta as you chop all your fresh ingredients  (Do not use dried herbs if you plan on serving this salad in the same day you make it).

Once the orzo is cool enough to work with, start mixing it into a bow; or container with the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder, red onion and the herbs.  Once that is all mixed together, mix in the halve tomatoes and frozen peas.

Let it sit for about 4 hours before serving.  It will be even better over the next few days.

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Some alterations you may want to try are…

• Add in some chopped black or green olives
• Use orange segments instead of tomatoes
• Use edamame instead of the frozen peas
• Add dill as an herb and then mix in some cooked shrimp or crab