Mary's Orzo Salad

This is a very tiny bit different than Elizabeth's Summer Grain Salad. Mary S. (although in my current work department there are TWO women who are Mary S) brought this to the Christmas gathering of our department; I have been waiting for warmer weather to make it. Really, on many of the sweet treats I can leave them...but this....I could have eaten the entire serving bowl of it!

I think it's one of those recipes that just calls for substitutions/additions but I told Mary I would blog about it as she wrote it...and give her all the credit.

Ingredients:

1 small eggplant, peeled and 3/4" diced

1 red bell pepper, 1" diced

1 yellow bell pepper, 1" diced

1 red onion, peeled and 1" diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 c olive oil

1 1/2 t kosher salt

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 lb orzo, cooked

Dressing:

1/3 c (2 lemons) freshly squeezed juice

1/3 c olive oil

1 t salt

1/2 t freshly ground pepper

To assemble:

4 scallions, mined

1/4 c pine nuts, toasted (I left this out due to Eleanor's allergy)

3/4 lb feta, 1/2" diced

15 fresh basil leaves, cut into julienne

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Toss eggplant, bell peppers, onion, and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper on a large sheet pan. Roast for 40 minutes, until browned, turning once with spatula.

I just did a very sight addition since I had 1/2 yellow summer squash in the refrigerator. I added that to the veggies to roast.

The weather FINALY warmed up here. It warmed up quickly, so I thought I would make this to have in the fridge for the warm days when I didn't want to be over the stove and hot oven in the late afternoon. I was able to get the oven/stove portions of this done in the morning. It tastes like summer to me:)

Addendum: July 6th. I just made this with cilantro instead of basil. For the vegetables I used some Italian beans, red onion, summer squash, red and green peppers.

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