Chicken and Orzo Greek Salad. A keeper!

On Monday I mentioned that I tried some new recipes last week. The first was Mustard Pork Tenderloin (Good). The second was Thai Style Beef Salad (OK) and the third was Chicken and Orzo Greek Salad (Great!).

The Thai salad was a bust. It didn't have any flavor. We ended up drowning it in Trader Joes' Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette Dressing. Which helped it tremendously and made it taste really good. But that wasn't the intended recipe. I doubt we'll ever make it again. So we're going to move on.

Thai-Style Beef Salad with Angel-Hair Pasta

The recipe that Don and I liked a lot was the Chicken and Orzo Greek Salad. The flavors were great - light, fresh and summery tasting. It was perfect for dinner, and the leftovers made an awesome lunch. Elli wasn't as thrilled with this as Don and I were. But she's a trooper. She ate it anyway, even though she's not crazy about tomatoes and olives, so she picked through it.

Shrimp (or Chicken) Orzo Greek Salad

I substituted chicken for shrimp. I used half the lemon for the dressing and the other half to marinate the chicken. I put the chicken in a ziplock added juice from half a lemon, some oregano, salt and pepper and let it sit for about an hour. I also used more Orzo than the recipe called for (because I wanted left overs) and used my good tasting olive oil for the dressing. I'm going to need some more "good" olive oil soon. Anyone want to send me some? And if you read my tip from Monday you'll want to remember to incorporate the lemon and olive oil very slowly. (drip, drip, drip)

I added some of the variations they suggested. Cucumbers and cherry tomatoes made the salad complete.

The suggested wine for this dish is Pinot Blanc. Look for one that has subtle fruitiness and fresh herbal accents. 

Click on the image to read the recipe.

We're definitely making this one again. Don even told me yesterday, "Hey, that pasta salad thing you made last week was pretty good. It was good for lunch." Don rarely comments on the food. So that means it was good. Yeah! Two points for me.