Orzo, sweet pepper, spinach & toasted almond salad
It’s all about salads for me at the moment! I love the warmer weather and the food it brings, out with soup and in with lots of colourful plates of grains, veggies, cheese and fresh herbs. This is a Italian-style plate with a lovely combination of pasta, roasted peppers, spinach, basil and toasted almonds in a garlic red wine vinaigrette. The salad is vegan, but if you want to top with crumbled feta, that would work really well too.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
3 sweet peppers (red, orange or yellow)
250g orzo
150g fresh spinach
A handful of ripped basil leaves
50g almonds
Dressing
60ml olive oil
20ml red wine vinegar
1/2 tbsp maple or honey
½ small garlic clove, grated
1 thinly sliced half moon of red onion, finely chopped (see photo below)
¼ tsp sea salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºc.
Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients in a salad shaker (I love this one by Oxo)
Spread the almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 6-7 minutes. Allow to cool and then chop roughly.
Cook the orzo as per the packet instructions, usually simmer for 8-12 minutes, depending on the brand. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop it cooking further. Once thoroughly drained put in a bowl and drizzle with a little of the dressing to stop it clumping. Add a good pinch of sea salt too.
While the orzo is cooking, roast the peppers: put them on a sheet of tin foil and place under a hot grill, blacken on all sides - this should take about 12-15 minutes, turning every 2-3. Wrap in the foil once cooked and leave to cool for 5 minutes, then peel, deseed and cut into strips. Reserve the juices from the peppers and pour over the salad before serving for extra flavour.
Steam the spinach for approx 3 minutes until it has just cooked, then spread out on a plate to cool.
Mix the peppers, spinach and basil leaves into the orzo and pour over 2/3 of the dressing. Spread the salad onto a large serving plate, drizzle over a little extra dressing and the juice from the peppers. Finish by scattering over over a few basil leaves and the toasted almonds.
Tip
Avoid green peppers as they’re unripened and bitter.
Save the rest of the red onion to chop thinly in salads.
This salad tastes even better for lunch the next day! I think because the flavours from the dressing have more time to permeate the pasta. Or may be it was because I didn’t have to actually make anything!