Graduation parties, showers, birthday parties, anniversaries—the summer months are filled with occasions to celebrate. Thanks to the warm, sunny weekends, most gatherings are packaged as casual barbecues, making it fairly simple to menu plan; until September, I’m looking forward to filling myself with burgers and hot dogs.
Most of our summer celebrations are potluck style, and the host or hostess cooks up a few main dishes while guests bring appetizers, sides and desserts. Knowing I’ll get honest feedback from outspoken family members, I use our backyard barbecues as an opportunity to explore new dishes. Doing so requires care and consideration.
When bringing a side dish, I have to be careful not to step on anyone’s toes. The buffet table is always lined with the classics, family favorites that simply cannot be rivaled. If I made anything remotely close to my mom’s three-bean salad or my mother-in-law’s macaroni salad, I’d encounter the awkward scenario of taking home, untouched, the dish I came with.
This orzo salad is laced with a mix of delicious fresh vegetables and colorful herbs. Even better, I found a way to avoid painstakingly chopping everything by relying on the food processor to do all the work. Hopefully, it can stand up to my family’s long lineage of side dish staples.
Orzo Salad
1 ¾ cup orzo pasta, dried
1 ½ cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
½ cup pitted kalamata olives
2 tablespoons chives, roughly chopped
1 large handful fresh basil leaves
⅓ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
Bring a large pan of salted water to boil. Throw in the pasta and cloves of garlic, boil until al dente, drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Remove skins from garlic and set aside. Put the pasta into a large serving bowl and add corn. In a food processor, pulse together tomatoes, cucumber, olives, herbs, garlic, vinegar and oil, until mixture is combined and resembles a thick salsa. Toss with orzo and corn, and season with salt and pepper.
