Orzo Salad With Kalamata Olives & Goat Cheese

One of my favorite pasta salads is a simple orzo salad.  Orzo is Italian for "barley" and is a macaroni product, cut into short lengths, and shaped like long grains of rice.  Orzo is commonly used in Greek, Turkish, Italian, and Arab cooking.

My recipe is simple to prepare, and has a light and slightly rich flavor, reminiscent of foods commonly found around the Mediterranean.

Skill level:

Serves 4 to 6, as a side dish.

Ingredients

3 cups water
1 cup dry (uncooked) orzo
1/2 teaspoon salt

2 to 3 ounces goat cheese

corn starch

1/2 cup loosely packed parsley
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
8 turns of a pepper grinder (1/2 teaspoon of black pepper)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1/2 of a Meyer lemon, juiced
1/4 cup pine nuts

Preparation

1. Bring water to a rapid boil.
2. Add orzo and salt, to the water, reduce heat to a rolling boil, and cook until minimum cook time of the orzo package.
3. While pasta cooks, crumble the goat cheese by sprinkling a small amount (less than 1 tablespoon) of corn starch on the cheese.  (The corn starch keeps the cheese from sticking together as it is crumbled). Spread around, and crumble to pea sized chunks. (Usually, a small log of goat cheese is 4 to 6 ounces, so I cut it the log in half, and keep the remaining for another day). 

4. Put the cheese in the freezer for about 10 minutes, or until frozen.
5. Put the olives, parsley, and paper in a food processor.  Pulse a few times until olives and parsley are roughly chopped.

6. When pasta is cooked, drain in using a colander or pasta strainer, and rinse thoroughly with cold water.

7. Put drained pasta in a bowl.  Dump the Olive and parsley mixture on top.  Add the olive oil, lemon juice, sesame seeds, and pine nuts.  Stir until combined.

8. Remove cheese from freezer, and gentley fold into the pasta salad.  The reason I freeze the cheese is to keep it a bit chunky when folding into the salad.  Unfrozen cheese sometime combines, and breaks down while stirring....so the quick freeze maintains the chunky texture of the cheese.
   
   
9. Chill for orzo salad for at least one hour before serving.  The pasta will absorb most of the oil and lemon juice while chilling.
10. When ready to serve, fluff lightly with a fork, while transferring to a serving dish