Day 3: Orzo, feta and pepper salad

Orzo, feta and pepper salad
recipe: Janine Ratcliffe
Olive Magazine, August 2009

According to the recipe, it should take 20minutes, serve 4, and is classed as 'easy'.

Ingredients

1 red onion, finely sliced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
olive oil
250g orzo (tiny grain-shaped pasta)
roasted red pepper from jar, 3 - sliced
1 200g block feta, crumbled
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
small bunch mint, leaves chopped


Method

Put the onion in a bowl, seasons really well and toss with the vinegar and 3tbsp oil. Leave to marinate and soften.
Cook the orzo ( I couldn't find orzo so used mini farfalle) in salted boiling water until just tender then drain and rinse under cold water and drain really well again. Toss with the onion and dressing then gently mix through the rest of the ingredients.

What it should look like...

Original photograph: Lis Parsons

What mine looked like...

The facts:
Brilliantly easy (as it is only really assembling ingredients), within the time limits and did as it said, serving four, even a very hungry caterpillar...I mean husband! I even had half the pack of pasta left and bottled the oil from the peppers jar to use in a dressing at some time in the future.

Taste:

There's definitely a light summertime feeling to this dish! The sharpness of the onions with the richness of the pepper and sourness of the cheese was delicious against the toasted crunch of pine nuts, even if I did forget them for little while whilst toasting. Sorry! The pasta element, even though I couldn't find orzo and used mini farfalle instead, actually filled up the husband, though he did ask where the meat was; I placated him by explaining he had cheese instead and that I was fairly sure sausages were on the menu tomorrow night! A summer-teatime winner: delicious!