Orzo Chicken Salad

Some of you have noticed I haven’t been posting too many savory dishes.  I guess I picked the wrong month to start a blog.  I don’t really cook much in the summer.  The summer is when food is at its best, and you don’t need to do too much, actually, anything to it, in terms of preparation.

Last night at dinner I ate the single most perfect cob of corn I have ever had.  Salt was all it needed.

Here’s a little something that came out of my trip to the produce stand at the end of last weekend.  I’m going to pass it off as a recipe, but I won’t encourage you all to follow it.  The orzo is your ticket to showing off whatever you have that is in season.

• 1 C of orzo
• 2 shallots
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, quartered (or grape tomatoes, halved)
• 1 chicken breast (mine was made with basil dressing, a la Giada)
• zest and juice of one lemon
• exra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Cook the orzo according to the package directions.

Chop up your shallots and put them in a mixing bowl.  Add the tomatoes too.

Chop up your (cooked) chicken breast and put it in a bowl.

Add the lemon zest and juice.

Stir in some extra virgin olive oil.

Drain your orzo and dump it in too.  Because of its heat, it will cook the tomatoes ever so slightly, which I like.  If you don’t, wait for it to cool before dumping.

Toss.

Depending on how much olive oil you added, you may want to add more.

Taste for salt and pepper.

If my chicken hadn’t already had basil dressing, I would have thrown some in here.

I’ll work on some actual cooking over the next few days.  My family and I are headed to the beach, and I’m head chef!