My Smoky Mediterranean Orzo Salad is packed with tangy and bold flavours to please most everyone. Serve warm or at room temperature for a hearty, attention-grabbing side dish. Or, with one or two additions, transform this easy-going pasta salad into a filling main dish.
Basically this is a sassy tweak of the picnic and potluck staple, pasta salad. Very sassy. Vegan, too.
Banish the mayo!
Long a staple of the supermarket chilled food aisle, pasta salad is not known for being the healthiest choice. Invariably coated in a mayonnaisey glop, it is often pretty dreadful, with a weird unidentifiable tang and artificial sweetness that really shouldn’t be there. It all feels a little slimy, too.
Maybe I’ve just been unlucky with commercial pasta salad. But honestly, it is the very last thing I would pick up as a quick side dish.
In recent years, however – at least here in the UK – pasta salad has undergone a quiet revolution. Not only is the mayo mostly banished to the sin bin of culinary history, there are actual vegetables in it. And different types of pasta!
I still don’t buy pasta salad. But I wholly endorse the efforts made by the recipe developers at Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose for coming up with pasta salads that actually sound delicious. If I saw a pack or two in your grocery trolley I would inwardly congratulate you on your good taste.
I hope you think this pasta salad sounds delicious, too.
What is in this Smoky Mediterranean Orzo Pasta Salad?
The key ingredient is orzo. A small, rice-shaped pasta shape, orzo is delicious in lighter-style dishes like this. It cooks very quickly – seven or eight minutes – and adds a silky element to soups and pasta bakes. I just love it. It is not easy to get a wholemeal version of orzo, but grab it if you see it. We are just boiling it as per pasta, but there are other cooking options if you have some left in your pack. Oh, and if you need this to be gluten-free just use any small-shaped suitable pasta, or brown basmati rice.
Eggplant – cut into cubes, slicked with olive oil and roasted with a few skin-on garlic cloves. If you can’t do eggplants, roast zucchini or peppers. Or do these as well as the eggplant.
Smoked sun-dried tomatoes – okay, this is a bit niche. In the UK you can buy jars of Belazu Smoked Tomatoes at Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose. A jar of these tangy-sweet, soft tomatoes in oil can be used to enliven a pasta sauce, to go with chickpea flour pancakes (soccas) or other savory pancakes or crepes, in soups, green salads, dips, bean salads and plenty more. You won’t waste the jar. Trust me.
Preserved lemon – in oil or in brine, just mince finely and chuck them in. Here is my own recipe for preserved lemons.
Artichoke hearts – as above, they can be preserved in oil or in a light brine or water. In oil is best though.
Kalamata olives – just a few, for their incredible pop of umami
Fresh mint and parsley – adds brightness and freshness. And flavor, of course
Lemon – of course
Habanero chilli – I know this is a bit off-piste but if you like these fruity-hot chilli peppers, mince half a small one and add it. I did so because I had some leftover from something else and thought, “hot damn, this is good!”
Variations to your Smoky Mediterranean Orzo Salad
add one or more of the following:
Use giant wholemeal (Israeli) couscous instead of orzo
Roasted red pepper
Roasted cauliflower
Thin slivers of raw broccoli
Feta cheese or goat’s cheese
Slices of hard-boiled egg (served with/on rather than mixed in)
Cooked runner beans or green beans (sliced)
Cooked legumes or beans, such as chickpeas or borlotti
Sautéed or thinly-sliced raw zucchini
Fresh cherry tomatoes
Toasted seeds, such as pine nuts
Chopped cucumber
Add Dijon mustard to the dressing in place of the chilli (it’s nice to have some kind of “bite”)
Black garlic in place of the roasted garlic
Fresh, minced garlic
Shredded kale or baby spinach leaves (sautéed or raw)
Rocket/arugula or other favorite sharp greens
What you do
Oh, it is soooo easy.
- Chop the eggplant into cubes and toss them and some garlic cloves with olive oil and roast for 20 minutes.
- While the eggplant is cooking, boil the orzo pasta for about seven minutes and chop the antipasti bits – artichoke hearts, smoked tomatoes, preserved lemon and Kalamata olives.
- When the eggplant and garlic are cooked and soft, squeeze the garlic from its paper skin and into a jug with some oil (from the tomatoes and/or artichokes), lemon juice, pepper and perhaps the suggested minced habanero chilli. Mash in the garlic and beat this dressing very well.
- Then it is a matter of tossing in the cooked and cooled orzo, the vegetables, garlicky dressing, chopped herbs and any extra add-ins, like feta cheese or chickpeas. It’s good to let the flavours meld for half an hour at room temperature, but isn’t necessary.
As you can see, this is a very easy side dish recipe that is very easily made into a main dish. Enjoy it warm, room temperature or even cold. It’s also lunch box-friendly.
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Smoky Mediterranean Orzo Salad
Packed with loads of bold and tangy flavour, this Mediterranean Orzo Pasta Salad will please almost everyone. Below I give you a wee menu of options to take it from hearty side salad to protein-packed lunch or dinner salad.
Ingredients
- 1 medium eggplant cubed into bite-sized pieces - 1-inch cubes
- 4 garlic cloves in their skins
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus more if liked
- 200 g orzo pasta
- 10 smoked tomatoes in oil sliced; OR non-smoked, sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 1 small preserved lemon minced
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 6 artichoke hearts in oil sliced
- 1/2 habanero chilli pepper deseed and chopped - optional
- black pepper to taste
- 1 small lemon juiced
- 8 Kalamata olives de-stoned and sliced
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 180C fan/200C/400F.
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Toss the chopped eggplant and the garlic cloves in one tablespoon of the olive oil. Lay them in an even layer on a baking tray and roast until the eggplant is soft and lightly browned - about 30 minutes, stirring all after 20 minutes.
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While the eggplant and garlic are roasting, boil the orzo according to package directions. Or, about seven minutes if there are no instructions. Drain and rinse with cool water, then set aside.
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Add the remaining oil to a jug or cup, along with one tablespoon of oil from the tomatoes. Also add the lemon juice, some pepper, minced habanero chilli if using (it's adds a lovely, fruity-hot taste); squeeze in the roasted garlic (pinch one end of the garlic off, and then squeeze). Mash the garlic with a fork, then beat everything until amalgamated.
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Add the cooked orzo to a serving bowl, followed by the chopped smoked tomatoes, the eggplant, artichoke heart slices, chopped herbs and sliced Kalamata olives. Pour over the dressing, toss, and serve.
Recipe Notes
Make it a meal! Add in sauteed prawns/shrimp, grilled tofu, cooked beans or legumes (like chickpeas or borlotti).
Variations: add one or more of the following
Roasted red pepper
Roasted cauliflower
Thin slivers of raw broccoli
Feta cheese or goat's cheese
Chickpeas or borlotti beans
Cooked runner beans or green beans (sliced)
Sauteed or thinly-sliced raw zucchini
Fresh cherry tomatoes
Toasted seeds, such as pine nuts
Chopped cucumber
Add Dijon mustard to the dressing in place of the chilli (it's nice to have some kind of "bite")
Black garlic in place of the roasted garlic
Fresh, minced garlic
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Best pasta salad ever!!!!
Looks so good!
I love orzo and this looks fantastic.
This is just gorgeous! I love anything with smoky flavours, and orzo for some reason tugs at my heart strings. This looks perfect for packed lunches too, so it’s definitely going on my must-make list!
this sounds delicious – I find grain salads challenging as the grain seems to swamp the vegies but there seem to be better recipes about like this one. I love the idea of preserved lemons but have not had them in my fridge for ages after a jar that was unused far too long. But I would much prefer a version of this without preserved lemon to a supermarket pasta salad – though I don’t tend to buy them as they rarely look very appetising.
This shouts flavour with its gorgeous bright appearance. Anything with preserved lemons for me please… in fact a reminder to make another jar of them.
This looks so tempting and in fact Ive never actually cooked orzo before so thank you, sounds great!
Fresh comfort food xx