Strawberry, snap pea, fried shallot orzo, basil dressing
Now that we are finishing up with my least favorite time of year (march & april) we can move on to the fun months, aka the rest of the year! For some reason March & April feel so random to me like there’s nothing going on and as soon as they’re over I gain inspiration again for spring and summer cooking.
The start of May feels like we should be adding strawberries into our orzo pasta salads and meeting those sweet strawberries with fried shallots and sugar snap peas for extra crunch. This strawberry orzo pasta salad tastes like the essence of summer.
I absolutely love the blended basil dressing that ties all of the ingredients together here. Orzo, strawberries, parmesan and basil just sound perfect together.
When I make salads, I try to keep my ingredients the same shape and size as what I’m basing the recipe off of. I love matching the ingredients up to the size of orzo, or at least a similar size. The strawberries are finely diced and the sugar snap peas are finely sliced on a diagonal.
I know it’s super cliché to say but this strawberry orzo pasta salad didn’t last more than 1 day in my fridge and I did find that it tasted better the next day. The color of the strawberries and sugar snap peas faded a tad overnight, so if you’re serving this for a special occasion, I would suggest to go ahead and make it the same day.
Ingredients:
Orzo pasta salad:
1 cup orzo pasta, dry
1 heaping cup strawberries, whole
1 heaping cup sugar snap peas, whole
1 cup parmesan, finely grated
2 shallots
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt
Basil dressing:
1/2 cup basil leaves, packed
2 garlic cloves
juice from 1 lemon, optional: add zest from lemon
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/8 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 heaping tsp mustard, dijon or seeded
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp fine cooking salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
Method:
Prep the shallots: slice shallots into super thin rings, preferably with a mandolin. Prepare a plate lined with paper towels and set aside. Prepare a heat-proof measuring jug with a strainer over top and set aside. Add sliced shallots to a small shallow pan and cover with 1/8 cup extra vigin olive oil.
Fry the shallots: bring the heat up to low-medium and saute occasionally so they fry evenly. Once they are a very light golden color, remove from the heat and pour through the strainer into the measuring jug. Reserve the oil used for frying to reuse for the pasta salad. They will darken as they cool, because they will continue to cook from residual heat so you want to pull them off the heat early. Transfer the shallots to the paper towel lined plate and season with a pinch of salt. Spread evenly across the plate so they crisp evenly.
Make the dressing: using a stick blender or a high-speed blender, add all of the ingredients for the basil dressing and blend until smooth. Transfer to a small container and set aside.
Blanch the snap peas: bring a small pot of water to a rapid boil. Season generously with salt. Prepare a bowl with lots of ice and water and set aside. Place the sugar snap peas into the boiling water for 45 seconds. Drain the hot water and transfer to the ice bath to cool completely.
Prep the salad components: once the sugar snap peas have cooled, slice them thin on a diagonal. Set aside. Finely dice strawberries. Grate parmesan on a microplane. Have your salad components ready to go.
Cook the pasta: bring a small pot of water to a rapid boil and season generously with salt. Add pasta and cook according to package instructions. Once al dente, drain and pour over the reserved shallot oil to mix in and coat evenly and prevent the pasta from sticking to each other as it cools.
Assemble: in a large mixing bowl, combine orzo, strawberries, sugar snap peas, fried shallots, parmesan and pour in the basil dressing. Mix to combine. Taste and adjust for salt. Keep in the fridge and enjoy!
