Feta and Orzo “Pasta Salad”

Isn’t pasta salad kind of a strange thing? Who decided cold pasta could be a picnic staple? I’m generally not a huge fan of it. If I want pasta, I want it served hot, with a spicy marinara sauce, or maybe some garlic bread and olive oil. But I don’t like my pasta salad covered in mayo or Italian salad dressing. Nothing against them, it’s just not my thing.

But now that the temperature is heating up, cold dishes are a little more appealing. After a long walk to the Farmer’s Market (for some fresh parsley and spices), a hot bowl of pasta didn’t sound quite so appetizing. I wanted something chilled, and I had some fresh Feta cheese in the fridge that I needed to use up, so a “pasta salad” dish was born.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Print Feta and Orzo “Pasta Salad”
Author: Liz Recipe type: Dinner Cuisine: Vegetarian
Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 7 mins Total time: 17 mins
Serves: 4
This twist on a classic pasta salad can be served as a main dish for 2-3 or a side dish for 4-6.
Ingredients

• ½ cup dry orzo pasta
• ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 can chickpeas
• ½ lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ cup red onion, diced
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp garlic
• Dash of black pepper, crushed red pepper, oregano

Instructions

1. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add in the orzo. Cook for 7 minutes, or until tender.
2. Drain, rinse, and spread it on a large plate to cool.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the feta and chickpeas.
4. Squeeze the juice from the lemon half, coating the chickpeas and feta.
5. Stir in the diced onion, parsley, and spices.
6. Once the orzo is cool, add in the orzo to the feta mixture.
7. Serve chilled.

3.2.1275

The chickpeas make this dish a little more substantial. I used a spice blend that we picked up at the Farmer’s Market, but you can create something similar with a sprinkle of oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, & pepper. I love playing around with spices. I tend to be a little heavy handed on the crushed red pepper, depending on who you ask, but I love spicy things.

I also liked how simple it was to throw all of this together, since we were running on less sleep than my body is used to. On Saturday night, Alex and I went to a “throwback prom” to celebrate RVA Comedy Coalition’s 5 year anniversary, and we were out much later than normal.

We tried to go with a 50′s-ish theme. Doesn’t Alex look like a greaser? (It took a lot of hair gel to make that happen.) It was pretty fun dancing the night away, snapping pictures, in the photo booth, and hanging out with Lindsay & her boyfriend.

Got any pasta salad favorites?

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