October 18, 2011

Everday Food Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad

Pasta is a stable in my household. I never have to worry about having too many leftovers that won't get eaten if a dish includes any type of pasta, someone in my house will eat it. My love of pasta goes back to my childhood. Growing up my family didn't have a lot of money, so pasta was a common meal. Luckily my mother was a very good cook and almost every meal she made was delicious. I especially loved pasta and she invented a recipe for Asian noodles, that to this day is one of the best dishes I have ever tasted. My two boys have inherited my love of all things pasta and literally cheer when they realize a pasta dish is for dinner. Recently, the September issue of Everyday Food magazine had a recipe for Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad, which looked delicious and a great way to use pasta as a side dish.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. I makes 6 servings and takes a total of 35 minutes, all of which is active cooking time. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Make sure to add lots of salt to the pasta water when cooking the orzo or the dish will be very under-salted. Even with the pasta water being adequately salted, I still had to add a decent amount of salt to bring out the full flavor of the zucchini and fresh corn. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

If your trying to feed a crowd this is a great recipe. The recipe states that this makes 6 servings, but they would be 6 very large servings. I would say that this salad could easily serve 12 or more people. This dish was light and delicious the day it was made, but was even better tasting after it had sat in the fridge overnight and soaked up all the flavors from the dressing. I didn't feel that the taste of the jalapeno was very apparent. I would suggest either adding another seeded jalapeno, or if you enjoy spicy dishes, keeping the seeds in for extra flavor. Overall, a light vegetable and pasta salad, that makes enough leftovers for another meal. 

For the recipe go to Corn and Zucchini Orzo Salad.

16 comments:

  1. Looks yummy! New follower from the Whimsical Wednesday Hop. Please stop by my blog too!

    Jen
    www.onecoollunch.blogspot.com

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  2. This looks very interesting! Thank-you for visiting me @ http://www.mommiesandbeyond.com Happy to connect with you ! I am following you as well. Looking forward to your post and catching up! Thank-you!

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  3. @One Thanks, it was yummy! Followed you back :)

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  4. Looks delicious! Thanks for following, and I'm now following you back! :-)

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  5. I love orzo and this recipe looks delish! Come by for some red hot puddin n pie today!
    http://georgie-hornpuddinnpie.blogspot.com/2011/10/hey-now-weve-got-to-make-it-rain.html

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  6. Looks like a great healthy side.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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  7. This looks delicious and healthy. My family also loves pasta and we eat it in several dishes. Take care.

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  8. @Mommy Thanks, it turned out yummy!

    @Georgie I love orzo also, it can be used in so many dishes and recipes!

    @the cheese thief It is very healthy, especially the fresh veggies!

    @Judy Thanks! My family loves pasta also, its a great family pleasing ingredient :)

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. I'm a pasta lover from way back, suddenly dealing with a low carb husband and trying to change in mid-life. But pasta is comfort food, and zesty food, homey or fancy or everything to us. Gotta find a good, low carb,or gluten free. Yikes. New follower here from the blog hop.

    Dixie Goode
    http://duffybarkley.blogspot.com/

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  11. @echo You could try using zucchini and shredding it to look like pasta. You could still use sauce as you would regular pasta. I have done it before and it turns out pretty well. Spaghetti squash also works, but that would be high in carbs, but it would be gluten free. Followed you back :)

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  12. You are torturing me with your wonderful recipes, but I love this one especially because it seems like it has few calories and it's healthy. :D People just seem to forget about vegetables nowadays.

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  13. @Andreea This recipe is very healthy and light. I agree that people are bad about forgetting to eat their veggies!

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  14. Wonderful salad and I used the leftovers to make a fritatta.

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  15. @Anonymous I love the idea of using the leftovers for a fritatta. Yummy sounding idea!

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