A light but filling orzo salad. Get your veggies chopped ahead of time and then whip up the dressing while your orzo cooks. Extra tomato dressing is delicious on roasted veggies, on leafy green salads, or spread on sandwiches or wraps.
¼c.loosely packed basil leavesroughly chopped or torn into ½" pieces
½c.grape tomatoescut in half
¼tsp.salt
3oz.softened goat cheesecrumbled
Instructions
Cook orzo according to package directions in a pot of pretty heavily salted water.
While the pasta cooks: add all of the dressing ingredients to the bowl of a food processor or to a blender and blend for 20-30 seconds, or until smooth and creamy.
Drain pasta and immediately stir ½ cup vinaigrette into to the pasta -- the warmer the pasta is when mixed with the vinaigrette, the more of the sauce it will be able to absorb. Stir it well until all the pasta is covered with the vinaigrette.
Add in the baby spinach, basil tomatoes, and salt. Mix until combined. Serve warm right away with a few fresh cracks of pepper and crumbled goat cheese or let chill in the fridge for 1 ½- 2 hours before serving cold.
Notes
1. Leftover salad last in the fridge for 4-5 days. 2. Leftover vinaigrette lasts in the fridge for about a week. 3. You can also use sundried tomatoes not in oil. Just add 1 extra tablespoon oil to the vinaigrette ingredients before blending.