Yummy Orzo Salad

I have always loved pasta salads, but there is only so much you do to make them different.  Enter orzo..... It's like eating pasta salad and not a lot of pasta!  I really am hooked on it!   Here is all you need:

1 box Orzo

Cherry tomatoes

corn (either fresh or frozen)

toasted pine nuts

cheese (Feta or diced fresh mozzarella)

fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

Dijon Vinaigrette

Begin by cooking one box of orzo.  I use chicken stock instead of water because I think it gives it more flavor.  While that is cooking, start cutting your tomatoes.  As for the corn, I had 5 ears that I had cooked a day ago and cut the kernels off.  If you don't have fresh corn, you can thaw a small bag of frozen corn and use that.  

Combine the corn with the orzo.

Fold in the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

 The easiest way to toast pine nuts is to heat a fry pan to medium high.  Add the pine nuts and give them a stir every so often.  Keep an eye on them, though, because they tend to go from white to golden brown pretty quickly.







Only two ingredients left, your cheese and the fresh basil.  Add the basil just before you serve the salad so it won't get too wilted.

The ingredients for your vinaigrette are as follows:

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¾ cup olive oil

2 Tbs Dijon mustard

approximately 1 Tsp salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

Whisk everything together and taste.  Feel free to adjust the flavor to your liking.  Add the dressing and basil and you are good to go.