Spinach and Orzo Salad

Continuing on my theme of little effort and little heat, we had a delicious (and easy!) orzo salad which has now become a big hit at my house.



Spinach and Orzo Salad

Ingredients:
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked orzo pasta
1 (10 ounce) package baby spinach leaves, finely chopped
1/2 pound crumbled feta cheese
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse with cold water. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in spinach, feta, onion, pine nuts, basil and white pepper. Toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Note: This makes a ton, but the leftovers keep really well.

Orange and Radish Salad with Cinnamon Vinaigrette

I found this on a website of Egyptian recipes, yet it called specifically for McCormick® brand spices. So I have doubts about its authenticity, but it does have a pretty spectacular balance of flavors. There are a lot of bold tastes in this recipe, but none of them overpowers the others. It served as a nice accompaniment to the koshari.

INGREDIENTS

Vinaigrette

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Salad

• 3 seedless oranges, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 bunch fresh radishes, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 package (6 ounces) baby spinach or 6 cups torn spinach
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

DIRECTIONS

• In a small bowl, blend vinaigrette ingredients. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine all salad ingredients except almonds.
• Just before serving, toss half of vinaigrette with salad mixture. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve remaining vinaigrette at the table.

Paella

Paella is one of those dishes that I always assumed was difficult and not terribly friendly to the herbivores. I ran across a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It is now one of my go-to meals. You do need a pan that can go from stovetop to the oven, but other than that, no special equipment necessary. I use my enormous cast-iron Le Creuset braiser, but I'm sure my 12-inch stainless skillet would also do the trick.

I've made this recipe many different ways, using whatever I have on hand. The version I'm posting now, is for spinach & lemon, but you could certainly mix up the flavors. Some combos I've tried successfully have been oranges & green olives, mushrooms & thyme, shrimp & oranges, tomatoes and capers.

Lemon-Spinach Paella

adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Ingredients:

One medium-sized onion, minced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed

2 c. arborio (or any short grain) rice

1 T. tomato paste

1 T. smoked Spanish paprika (also called pimenton)

4 c. vegetable stock (or whatever stock you have on hand, even water will suffice)

1/4 c. Olive oil, divided

1 bag pre-washed spinach

zest and juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Heat 3 T. of olive oil in a large skillet (with tall edges) over medium heat.
3. Add in the onions and garlic, stirring occasionally until they turn translucent.
4. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine spinach, lemon zest & juice with remaining tablespoon of olive oil, salt & pepper to taste. Toss to coat the spinach leaves with olive oil & lemon juice.
5. Add the rice, tomato paste and paprika to the skillet. Add a little sprinkling of salt here too.

6. Once rice has started to become fragrant (1-2 minutes), add the stock.
7. Turn off the burner heat and add spinach mixture to the top of the skillet.
8. Move skillet to the oven for 15 minutes.
9. After 15 minutes if the liquid has mostly been absorbed, turn off the temp in the oven and let the paella sit inside the turned off oven for an additional 5 minutes. (if the liquid has not been absorbed, let it go in an active oven for another 4-6 minutes, or until absorbed).

10. Enjoy.

Elegant Orzo with Wilted Spinach and PIne Nuts

I found this when I searched allrecipes.com using the ingredients spinach and red pepper. In this case it was calling for red pepper flakes, which I went light on, but caught my eye none the less. This was good warm and cold (the next day as left overs). This strikes me as a very forgiving recipe so adding and subtracting at will is probably OK. I think adding fresh basil at the end would make it very good too.

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) package uncooked orzo
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup pine nuts
1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
1 (8 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
1/2 fresh tomato, chopped (I used 1 package of grape tomatoes cut in half)
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. (Firm or slightly undercooked orzo works best for this dish.) Drain, transfer to a mixing bowl, and set aside.
Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, stirring to blend. Stir in garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes, and reduce heat to medium. Stir in pine nuts and cook until lightly browned. Add spinach, cover, and cook on low heat for 5 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
Toss spinach mixture with orzo pasta. Portion onto serving plates with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese and chopped tomatoes. Allow guests to adjust seasoning with salt, as needed.