Orzo Salad
By Tiffany Hobson
This is a great salad to take for a picnic. Make sure you make this hours before consuming; the flavors blend together in the refrigerator to give this salad an "oily" mouth feel consistency. I am often quizzed by my friends as to how I can produce a salad they swear has oil in it. Enjoy!
Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Ingredients
Directions
1 Fava Beans: Take the fava beans out of their pods. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water. When water is boiling, add the fava beans and cook for 1 minute. Drain the beans in a colander and immediately place them in the ice water. Let them sit in the ice water until they have completely cooled, about 3-5 minutes. Shell the fava beans. Fava beans look like they have Mohawks; use your thumb nail to break the front of the Mohawk and pull to remove the “cap”. Use your thumb and index finger to “pop” out the bean. Set aside.
2 Orzo: Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the orzo and cook to an al dente consistency, about 5-10 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water and set aside.
3 The Salad: In a large non-stick pan, saute the onion, garlic, and dried marjoram in the vegetable broth until soft (about 5-7 minutes). Add orzo, fava beans, sundried tomatoes, and lemon juice and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in the fresh marjoram and cook for 1 more minute. Place salad in a glass bowl and refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 1/2 – 3 hours. Before serving, add freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste, if desired.
Hint: Marjoram is in my top 5 of favorite spices. The dried marjoram blends beautifully with the onion and garlic. Fresh marjoram adds a light freshness to this dish. You may cut the fresh marjoram to 1/2 tablespoon or add as much as 1 1/2 tablespoons, but I would do no more or no less. For another variation to this salad, add a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar to the salad and toss just before serving.
