Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Minted Orzo and Zucchini Salad


I often have readers, friends and family ask me how I keep coming up with recipes to blog about, or where I find many of the recipes I make. I honestly am constantly on the look-out for delicious recipes that fit my style. Some of my favorite resources are magazines like Eating Well, Clean Eating, Real Simple, Cooking Light, and Vegetarian Times. I also like to search other blogs, many of which I have linked to on here. I also take cookbooks out of the library every now and then, especially when I am cooking ethnically. Lastly, there are a few websites I like to browse, like Whole Foods, Williams-Sonoma, and Foodtv.
This salad comes from the Whole Foods website. I was looking for a one-pot-dinner-salad type meal, which is my current meal of choice (if you haven't noticed...) This was the first one that popped up, and lucky me, my herb garden has taken off, and mint is abundant!
I ate this salad warm/room temperature, but Whole Foods suggests serving it chilled. I think it would be delicious either way! I also didn't have Kalamata Olives, so I substituted generic green Spanish olives.




1 cup dried orzo
2 large zucchini, thickly sliced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped mint
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
6 ounces feta cheese, cut into cubes
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
Ground black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Add orzo and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes.
Drain well, rinse in cold water and drain again.
Meanwhile, arrange a rack about 6 inches from the heating element and preheat broiler.
Brush zucchini with 1 tablespoon oil and arrange on a baking sheet.
Broil, flipping halfway through, until tender and deep golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.
Set aside to let cool and then roughly chop and transfer to a large bowl.
Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil, orzo, lemon juice, mint, garlic, feta, olives, tomatoes and black pepper and gently toss to combine.
Cover and chill for several hours until flavors blend.

7 comments:

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy said...

I have really been loving zucchini lately so I would love this! But for the olives. :-)

Sophie @ yumventures said...

I love this salad - so fresh, and I love the herbs in it! I keep an ongoing Google doc and starred blog posts in my reader of recipes I need to try! I love browsing through them every Thursday when I am ready to make my shopping list and plan for the next week :) Eating Well and Real Simple are two of my favorites too!

Confessions of a Mother, Lawyer & Crazy Woman said...

This recipe sounds fabulous! Not much of a cook, but may have to give it a try, sounds too easy to mess up.

Natalie said...

I am ALL about the one-bowl dinners lately...we've had a lot of salads with bulgur as the base. This one sounds awesome and different from any that I've tried so far! Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I think looking and searching for recipes is the hardest and best thing with meal planning. If I am not actively searching I eat too many repeats and "boring" meals.

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Joanne said...

I really love the WF website. It is a great trove of recipes. This looks delicious.