Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp

Can you hear me smacking my lips? Can you see me drooling? This salad was fantastic! What made it so different from any other summer salad? The vinaigrette - simple and fresh tasting.

We were taking a trip to the lake this past weekend to spend some time on the boat and, of course, I was thinking about what to pack in the cooler for our lunch. As I sat making a list for my trip to the grocery store, I was also wading through the posts in my Google reader when I came across a post for this salad on Stacey Snacks. I don't know what prompted me to use the link to her original post, but I did. When I scrolled down the page, I saw that Marie @ Proud Italian Cook (one of my absolute favorite food bloggers) was the first person to leave a comment on Stacey's post. Marie raved about the salad. Well, I am, too.

This salad was a perfect lunch on the boat. But, next time, I taking a bottle of wine to go with it.

This recipe made a lot, so we decided to have it the next day with dinner. To freshen it up a little, I made half the vinaigrette recipe and tossed it with the leftover salad and we had it with more grilled shrimp! It was just as fresh tasting Sunday as it was Saturday.



This salad will become a summer staple at our house.

Greek Orzo Salad with Shrimp
Adapted from Stacey Snacks

1 box of orzo (cooked per package directions)
1 lb. cooked shrimp (Stacey grills hers; I used a grilling pan)
1/2 red onion, diced
handful of green onions, chopped
handful of kalamata pitted olives, chopped
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of fresh dill, chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 hot house cucumber, sliced
7 oz. container of chopped feta cheese

Vinaigrette Dressing:

juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of good olive oil
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Cook and drain the orzo pasta. While it is still warm, mix with a little of the vinaigrette. Set the pasta aside to cool while you prepare the other ingredients.

I had a little over a pound of shrimp, 16-20 count. I cleaned them, sprinkled them with Cavender's Greek Seasoning and cooked them in a grilling pan for about 90 seconds on each side. They were pretty big for a salad so I cut them in half.

I mixed the rest of the ingredients with the pasta, adding the feta cheese last, then tossed the salad with the remaining vinaigrette.