roasted vegetable and
orzo salad with basil, pine
nuts, and Parmesan
SERVES 8
This Italian recipe for cold, colorful pasta
salad pairs well with grilled meat or fish,
and it’s hearty enough to fill you up all
on its own. For variety, feel free to sub in
other veggies, such as broccoli, fennel,
and eggplant.3 medium zucchini (1 lb), cut into
½-inch slices
2 red or yellow bell peppers, cut
into ½-inch strips
2 red onions, each cut into 8 wedges
20 cherry tomatoes
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp dried oregano
6 cloves garlic, skin on, lightly crushed
Thyme (a few sprigs)
⅓ cup pine nuts
1 lb orzo
⅓ cup finely grated Parmesan
1 cup basil leaves, roughly torn,
plus extra for garnishHeat oven to 350°. In a bowl, toss zuc-
chini, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes
with 4 tbsp olive oil, oregano, and plenty
of salt and freshly ground black pepper;
transfer to a roasting pan and add garlic
and thyme. Cook until vegetables are soft-
ened and just starting to brown, 25–30
minutes. (You can also use a grill pan or
BBQ to add a lightly charred flavor.)Roast pine nuts on a baking sheet until
lightly golden, 3–5 minutes; remove
from sheet and let cool. Cook orzo as
directed on package; strain and toss
with remaining 4 tbsp olive oil in a
large serving bowl.Discard garlic and thyme from zucchini
mixture; toss mixture with pasta while
still warm. Let cool to room tempera-
ture, or finish and serve while warm.
Add Parmesan, torn basil, salt, and
freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve garnished with basil leaves.NUTRITIONAL INFO423 calories per serving,
20 g fat (3 g saturated), 52 g carbs, 2 g fiber,
11 g protein, 72 mg sodiumat least to ancient Rome. Pliny the
Elder, the ancient-Roman writer,
wrote to a friend about a salad kept
cool with snow and reprimanded him
for being too busy with dancing girls to
notice this amazing phenomenon. The
Italian gardener and writer Giacomo
Castelvetro was horrified by the eat-
ing habits of the English in the 1 6oos
and wrote a whole book about how
they should eat more salad. He didn’t
want us to waste the herbs and leaves
around us and wanted us to use a
greater variety of them.
To Castelvetro’s point, to make a
great salad, you must first start with
the ingredients: What’s in the fridge
and needs to be used? What’s in season
and at its prime in the market? Pick
your ingredients from a shelf or a
plant and assemble. That is salad.
We like to use a variety of textures
to make our salads exciting, different,
and generally more loved (see “Make
the perfect salad,” page 34). It is essen-
tial to find a balance between wet and
dry as well as soft and crunchy. For
instance, we might start with a couple
of carrots, grate them into a pile, sea-
son them, squeeze a lemon over the
top, and then take a piece of cheese
and use a peeler to make transpar-
ent shavings next to the carrots. Next
we’ll tear a little cooked chicken into
shreds, pour on olive oil, and add sea-
salt flakes and freshly ground black
pepper. Finally, we’ll mix it all with
a handful of soft leaves, slices of bell
pepper, chewy grains or cooked beans,
crunchy toasted seeds or nuts, and
some homemade dressing.
To be sure that our book was filled
with a variety of inspiring salads,
Giancarlo and I traveled to Southeast
Asia, Morocco, Italy, and the United
States to discover new ways of eating.
We worked with family cooks and
chefs from various countries, including
India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia,
North and South America, China,
Japan, France, Kuwait, Greece, Peru,
Korea, and more. As a result, all of
the salads in our book, including the
four you’ll find in the following pages,
are vibrant, fresh, and balanced, with
plenty of varying textures—perfect for
family and guests who love healthful
yet filling and flavorful summer fare.
30
june 2017yogajournal.com