Orzo Pasta Salad

When it comes to summer dishes pasta salads are an essential for me. Whenever we have a BBQ I can guarantee you there will be a pasta salad on the side, along with other essentials like potato salad, veggie kebabs and so on.

What is orzo?

Orzo still isn’t that well used in the UK but it’s a great pasta for a range of dishes, whether it’s to accompany meatballs, soups or for exactly this, a pasta salad. It’s not to be confused with risotto which is rice, Orzo is made with durum wheat semolina and water, but it can be cooked in a similar style to risotto, which makes it great for one pot dishes.

Perfect for a BBQ side dish

This orzo pasta salad recipe can be enjoyed on its own, with meat and fish or even stuffed into peppers.

Orzo Pasta Salad | Sundried tomatoes, mozzarella and olives

Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 20 minutes | Serves: 6 people as a side | Nutrition: 353 calories per serving

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Ingredients

• Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Fillipo Berio Red Wine Vinegar
• Juice of 1 small lemon
• 200g orzo
• 2 shallots, finely sliced
• Handful of sundried tomatoes in oil, roughly chopped
• 100g Spinach
• 150g Cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsps Black olives, sliced
• 1 ball of Mozzarella (keep the mozzarella water)
• Fresh basil / dried herbs

Instructions

1. Add some Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil to a pan and on a low heat cook your finely sliced shallots for a couple of minutes. Season with a little salt and some dried herbs if you have them.
2. Add the mozzarella water and bring to a gentle simmer.
3. Then add your orzo and 250ml of boiling water, allow to simmer for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring.
4. After 5 minutes add another 150ml of boiling water and you can add frozen spinach at this point (make sure you have defrosted and squeezed out any excess water).
5. After another 3 minutes, add a final 50-100ml of water to finish cooking your orzo so it’s al dente and has a creamy finish.
6. Turn the heat off, add your olives and sundried tomatoes and leave to cool while you make your dressing.
7. To make the dressing add 2tbsps of Filippo Berio Red Wine Vinegar, the juice of one small lemon and 6 tbsps of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Mix together to create a dressing and drizzle over the orzo, stir to combine.
8. Add your tomatoes.
9. Once cooled, transfer to a serving bowl and place in the fridge for about an hour to allow all the flavours to come together.
10. When you’re ready to serve, add your mozzarella, tear fresh basil over the top, and finish with a drizzle of Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I’d love to see if you recreate this dish so please tag @CookingCarafes and @FilippoBerio and we’ll share them.

This is part of a paid for collaboration with Filippo Berio during the Covid-19 Crisis.  

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Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with Garofalo Orzo

Orzo is an underrated pasta in my opinion, in the UK anyway. It’s one I didn’t really cook with a lot in the past, but it’s actually quite a versatile type of pasta, traditionally used in soups and broths, it actually also works really well for lighter, summer dishes. 

Garofalo Quality 

For this recipe I’ve used Garofalo pasta, as I’m working with them to create a number of recipes to share with you all. Garofalo’s orzo is made from 100% durum wheat semolina, they pride themselves on the quality of the grains they use from Italy, USA and Australia - choosing wheat that contributes to the excellent quality of pasta by its colour, cleanliness and flavour.   

A few quick facts about Orzo 

• Orzo is Italian for ‘barley’, because its shape is similar to that of a barley grain.

• Traditionally used in broths and soups

• Works well as an alternative to risotto or as a pasta salad style dish

You’ll see on a lot of Garofalo’s pasta packaging ‘Bronze Die Cut’, this is referring to the method the shape is produced and it’s by passing the pasta dough through a bronze drawing (extruder)  to create the shape, creating a rougher surface and better quality pasta than when using a teflon version. In most instances this creates a higher quality pasta, that will hold its shape and sauce better than some other pastas. You’ll mainly notice this difference compared to supermarket own brand pastas where they tend to be produced using the teflon drawings as it’s quicker and cheaper. 

I know many people see pasta as a great quick, cheaper dish, which it of course can be and that is the beauty of it, but quality pasta makes a big difference to the overall meal. 

You can find out more about how Garofalo make their pasta and see their full range online. You can also stock up on Ocado or Amazon.

Meatballs and orzo ready to combine

Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with Garofalo Orzo

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients:

This recipe is perfect for mid week and shouldn’t take longer than 45 minutes to make, the more you make it the easier it will become too, plus you can freeze any spare meatballs.

If you only want to make this dish for two I recommend making the full batch of meatballs and freezing half of them, then half the ingredients below.

For the meatballs

• 500g pork mince

• 1 egg, beaten

• 75g breadcrumbs

• Small bunch of fresh thyme (pick the leaves)

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Salt & Pepper

For the orzo

• 350g orzo

• 1 Courgette, thick slices, quartered

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock

• Olive Oil

• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Start by making your meatballs in a bowl, combine the pork mince, breadcrumbs, half of the freshly picked thyme leaves, zest of one lemon, salt and pepper for seasoning, and mix together.

2. Add the beaten egg and combine together. With wet hands roll into meatballs, you should be able to make about 20 - 24 meatballs.

3. I find it easier to cook these in the oven while preparing the rest of the dish. Heat a fan oven to 180°C and cook for 20 minutes (you may want to turn them half way through).

4. While they’re in the oven finely chop an onion and slice your courgette into quarters. I like using yellow courgette with this dish but green works just as well.

5. Add some olive oil to a pan and slowly cook the onions, after 5 minutes add the courgette, season and cook for a further 5 minutes.

6. Add some more fresh thyme or some dried herbs (abour 1tsp) and then the orzo, stir in, and add half the stock.

7. Allow to simmer for ten minutes, add more stock as required, approximately 250ml.

8. Add the juice of one lemon, and more stock if required.

9. Add the meatballs and stir together.

10. Check the orzo is cooked, you should have a silky consistency and the pasta should be al dente.

11. Serve and top with some more fresh thyme.

Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with orzo

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