Two Orzo Salads...and One (rerun) Rice Salad - that are REALLY Good

orzo w/roasted veggies, feta and pine nuts

Our wonderful goddaughter, Hailey, had a combined 25th birthday party and "We're leaving the East Coast and Moving to San Francisco" party this past Saturday night for around 70 of her and her Peter's nearest and dearest folks. 

Needless to say, her mom and all of us were all knee-deep in food preparation! While Jules (and daughters Hailey & Lauren) took care of the protein side of the meal, my crew took care of the salads! Daughter Brynnly, old nanny Sheila (who has been in the family for around 30 years now), other-daughter Kat and I rocked out 4 salads! I made the top roasted veggie salad, Sheila made the lemony orzo salad with cucumber and feta, Brynnly and I made the panzanella salad (photos were horrid, not going there!) and we all made the confetti rice & veggie salad (recipe also here). Nice thing about all of these salads is they can be changed to make bigger and/or smaller amounts to fit the number of folks you're feeding. 

2 eggplants, cut into 1" cubes
1 each green, orange and yellow peppers, cut into 1" cubes
2 red peppers, cut into 1" cubes
1 large red onion, cut into 1" cubes
4 garlic cloves, diced
2 lbs. orzo, cooked to perfection, and drained
1 lb. block of feta, chuncked
more crumbled feta to taste
1/2 C. or so toasted pine nuts
zest of 2 lemons
juice of 2 lemons
handful of fresh basil leaves, julienned
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425º.
Place all veggies in a  bowl and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Spread over 1 or 2 cookie sheets and put in the oven. Roast for around 40 or so minutes, until veggies are well and done.  In a large bowl, combine the cooked orzo and veggies. Just before serving, stir in the feta chunks, pine nuts and basil. Dress the salad with lemon juice and olive oil. Stir to mix, taste to correct seasonings.
Serve at room temperature.

(Original recipe from Sarah Leah Chase)

orzo w/feta, red onion, cucumbers, parsley & mint

1 lb. orzo, cooked and drained, al dente

olive oil to lightly coat the pasta

juice and zest of 1 to 2 lemons, your choice

1 large English cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 red onion, diced

handful fresh parsley, chopped

1/2 - 1 C. or so crumbled feta cheese

handful fresh mint, chopped (optional)

salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss cooked pasta with the rest of the ingredients. Taste and correct seasonings. Serve at room temperature.

Original recipe from Fork Knife Swoon

Confetti Rice Salad
I originally posted this salad recipe back on July 5, 2016. It's basically the very same salad, but one uses only red peppers, while this one has yellow and orange peppers as well. The first one uses a purple onion, this one doesn't. Amazing how the ingredients are nearly the same, but they look entirely different! 1st recipe/photo here.

4 C. cooked and still warm Basmti rice

2 recipes (plus more) "Our Favorite Vinaigrette"

1 red pepper, diced

1 orange or yellow pepper, diced (or both)

1 medium red onion, diced

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1 package frozen petite peas, not thawed

handful fresh dill, chopped

handful fresh basil, julienned

handful fresh parsley, chopped

Put warm rice in a big bowl and toss with 1 recipe of "our favorite vinaigrette".  After the rice cools, mix in the veggies and toss with more vinaigrette. Taste and correct for seasonings.

This calls for at least 2 recipes of "Our Favorite Vinaigrette".

"Our Favorite Vinaigrette"

2 T. Dijon mustard

8 T. red wine or balsamic vinegar

2 t. sugar

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1/2 C. or so olive oil

Whisk all together to combine.

Original recipe, tweaked a lot by my sis and I, from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukens and Julee Rosso

As for the Panzanella, that's a recipe in the making....not worth posting....yet!

~~~

YUM!

'till we feast again! 

xoabb

Pizza, Please - Hold the Tomatoes

white wild mushroom pizza, no tomatoes!

My sis had a taste for white pizza, and as none of us had ever made it before, off to google we went!  I don't know what I thought a white pizza sauce would be, but I never would have guessed it began with a roux! We decided to use a flatbread/pita for the crust so mom wouldn't have to make more pizza crust, and it was almost as good as homemade because the toppings were so good! Our pizza was made with sautéed wild chanterelles and caramelized onions, and we used fresh thyme leaves instead of basil because it goes so well, flavor-wise, with the chantys. (If you don't have access to chanterelles, any other store-bought fresh mushroom will do; just remember to sauté them first.) Sorry for the bad photo, but it was only the next day, right before lunch, that I realized I hadn't taken any photos of it as it was being made! 

The throw 'n go: 

1 - for preparing the toppings

chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned (with a toothbrush, no water) and torn into pieces

onions - cut onion in half length-wise and then cut into thin slices

butter, for sautéing 

(This can be done long before you assemble your pizza - mom and I did all the sautéing in the morning - just take all out of the fridge enough before dinner so they are at room temp.)

2 - for the roux:

2 T. butter (if you need to make more, just use equal parts butter to flour)

2 T. flour

1 C. milk or 1/2 & 1/2

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

1 garlic clove, minced

fresh thyme leaves

1/2 C. parmesan cheese

3 - for assembling the pizza:

flatbread or pita bread

mozzarella cheese

parmesan cheese

fresh thyme leaves

BumHot (or cayenne or other red pepper flakes)

Preheat oven to 450º F. 

1 - Melt butter in a pan, add the mushrooms and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until the chanterelles are done, about 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from pan, add more butter if needed and add the onions. Cook onions over medium to medium-low heat for around 20 minutes or so - until the onions are nicely browned and caramelized. When done, set them aside. 

2 - Using the same pan to make the roux, over medium heat (you don't want the butter and flour to brown), melt 2 T. butter and add the flour and whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, cook for about 5 - 10 minutes. Slowly whisk in the milk, adding gradually. Stir in the remaining ingredients and remove from the heat. 

3 -  Coat the flatbread with your roux.  Sprinkle mozzarella over the top of that. Then cover with the mushrooms and onions, as little or as much as you want. Sprinkle that with some thyme leave and then sprinkle on your desired amount of mozzarella cheese. Add some parmesan, a few more thyme leaves and BumHot. Bake until all is nice and bubbly and beginning to brown, about 15 - 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of your bread (we like it as thin as we can get it) and the amount of topping you have. Serve your pizza with parmesan on the side. 

~~~

YUM!

'till we feast again! 

xoabb