Orzo Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Peppers
This is a favorite recipe of everyone we’ve shared it with. It works well with a summer barbecue or at a Christmas party. It has many variations to work with to please any crowd you serve it to. It’s a mixture of unique flavors, with some sweet, heat, salt and fat. It’s also very versatile as you can use different proteins and change up the vegetables.
Like many recipes of ours, it comes from one of the cooking clubs we had with our good friends and we’ve been making it ever since.
There are quite a few steps with this salad, but nothing too hard and it’s well worth it!
Start with making the marinade that also serves as a dressing. We often make this salad the day before we serve it to allow the flavors to soak in and blend.
After whisking the vinegar, oil, sour cream, honey and salt, add the cilantro. Next add the jalapeño peppers, finely diced. If your crowd does not like too much heat, reduce the jalapenos but I promise, they blend really well into the overall flavor.
Pour about 1/4 of the marinade over the uncooked shrimp. Cover and reserve the rest of the marinade, as it now becomes the dressing to use later. The shrimp should marinade for about 30 minutes.
If you are not a fan of shrimp, boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be used and chopped after grilling.
Time to Grill and Char
While the shrimp are marinating, heat the grill. At the same time, char the peppers and grill the shrimp. The shrimp cook very fast and should be pink throughout.
The charring of the peppers will take a few minutes, turn often. This also can be done on an inside grill using an old cooling rack placed over an open flame, to char the peppers. Once the peppers are off the grill, place in a paper bag to cool. This will help the skins come off easier, before chopping.
Yummy! At this point, you will be tempted to just pop these delicious shrimp into your mouth. Once they are cool, cut into one inch pieces.
While the peppers are cooling, boil the orzo pasta according to the package directions. Drain and let it cool. Once, cool, add the shrimp.
Next stir in the defrosted corn. To defrost, just rinse under room temperature water.
Add the diced peppers next. Then add the green onions. Any of these veggies can be substituted. Change the green onion for chopped red onion. We’ve also added cherry tomatoes, halved.
Once all is mixed in, add the dressing. Hint: don’t add all of the dressing, allowing it to soak into the orzo pasta. Add additional dressing right before serving. Stir well.
Ready to Serve
If desired, squeeze a little lime juice on before serving. Top with lime sliced and a bit of cilantro.
Your salad will be the hit of your party or barbecue!
Orzo Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Peppers
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup champagne vinegar (white wine or sherry vinegar works too)
- 1 and 1/3 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil
- 1 jalapeno, finely diced
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup rough chopped cilantro
- 18-24 shrimp, peeled, deveined with tails off
- 2 cups orzo, cooked per the package directions
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 yellow or orange bell pepper
- 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions, white and green parts
- Lime juice and slices of lime for garnish
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into a bowl or jar. Shake or whisk together. Chill until ready to use.
- This can be made up to 24 hours ahead.
- Lightly coat the shrimp with about 1/3 of the marinade. Reserve the rest, chilled, to use as the dressing. Let the shrimp marinate for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat the grill to medium high
- Grill the shrimp for about 3 minutes on one side. Turn and grill for 2-3 more minutes until the shrimp are pink throughout. Remove. Once cool, cut into 1 inch pieces.
- Char the poblano and bell peppers. Let one side become blackened. Turn and char until all sides are blackened and the pepper is somewhat soft. Remove the peppers and place in paper bag for about 10 minutes to cool. The bag will help to soften the skin to remove. Once the peppers are cool, remove the charred skin, seed, stem and dice.
- In a large bowl, place the cooked orzo. It should be somewhat cool. Add the shrimp, thawed corn, peppers and green onion. Stir well to incorporate.
- Add about 3/4 of the remaining dressing. Stir well. If serving right away, stir in more dressing to taste, not making too "wet." This dish can be served at room temperature or chilled. It can be served at once or within 24 hours. If serving later, stir in the remainder of the dressing as desired.
- Place in a serving bowl. Squeeze a bit of lime juice on top and garnish with lime slices and cilantro, if desired. Enjoy!
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