Orzo salad

Orzo is the Italian word for barley. This rice-shaped pasta (also know as risoni) is used around the Mediterranean in soups and stews. It makes a very good building block for pasta salads. I found this recipe for a Greek-flavoured orzo salad that would also be good to serve warm as a base or side dish for barbecued lamb.

Ingredients

½ cup	Pine nuts
300 g	Orzo (Main)
3 cups	Baby spinach
20	Pitted black olives
½	Red onions
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
1 Tbsp	Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp	Red wine vinegar
1 tsp	Dijon mustard
1 pinch	Dried basil
1 pinch	Tarragon, dried
1 to taste	Salt & freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Boil a large pot of salted water.
2. Add 300g of orzo to the boiling water, do not cover and cook vigorously 8-10 minutes until the pasta is cooked but still a little firm. Drain and rinse under cold running water until cool.
3. Toast 1/2 cup of pine nuts to light brown.
4. Chop 3 handfuls of trimmed or baby spinach. Put half of the spinach into a blender and whizz with some olive oil.
5. Mix the orzo, spinach puree and pine nuts together.
6. Add the rest of the spinach, half a red onion finely chopped, about 20 pitted black olives roughly chopped and crumble as much feta cheese as you like over the mix.
7. Mix 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, a pinch of dried basil, pinch of dried tarragon, salt and ground pepper to taste.
8. Pour over the salad and gently mix through. Leave the salad an hour or so before serving for the flavours to marry.