Orzo Salad

We went over to a friend's house the other night for dinner and they made this wonderful, fresh salad. It is perfect as a side dish or add grilled chicken and it could stand on its own.

Orzo Salad

This recipe is free of milk, eggs, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish and shellfish
*can be free of wheat if you substitute wheat free pasta instead of orzo

Ingredients
Orzo (or wheat free pasta could be substituted)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
8 campari tomatoes, sliced (or whatever fresh tomatoes you have- if they don’t look good, just increase canned)
1 can water packed artichoke hearts, drained or can use frozen
2 Tbsp capers, drained
½ cup kalamata olives, halved
2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme (grow some in your garden, it can be used for tons of things)
¼ c chopped fresh parsley
¼ c dry white wine (could skip this)
Splash of red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions
Cook orzo (or wheat free pasta) according to pkg directions in salted water. Drain but reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid.

In large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and sauté onion for 5 minutes till soft and caramelizing. Add garlic for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, artichokes, capers, olives and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes start to soften- about 8-10 minutes adding wine last 5 minutes and reduce. Add pasta, stirring in- add a generous drizzle of olive oil until it is a nice texture. Toss and add pasta water if it is too dry. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or room temp. Stir in parsley before serving to keep nice green color

*If you are going to serve a lot of people, go ahead and make the full pound of orzo, but for a small family, you could just use a cup of orzo and cut everything in half…