Orzo with fresh salmon, summer greens and ricotta herb dressing

Tamara West

Orzo is a rice-shaped pasta, perfect for use in salads as it takes on all the flavours that are added to it. Orzo is grea tfor extending salads, especially if you are cooking for a large crowd. Cook more or less fresh salmon according to your preference.

Ricotta herb dressing

1	Lemon, zest and juice
1 cup	Ricotta cheese, use a crumbly, good quality ricotta that is as fresh as possible
2 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup	Fresh herbs, I used parsley, mint and chives

Orzo salad

½ cup	Extra virgin olive oil
2	Lemons, zest and juice
2 cups	Orzo (Main)
600 g	Boneless salmon fillets (Main)
250 g	Green beans, trimmed and cut in half if long
100 g	Snow peas, trimmed

Directions

1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
2. For the salad, combine the oil, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Cook the orzo in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes.
4. Drain well in a fine colander then add to the oil and lemon, mix well and allow to cool.
5. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and add a dash of olive oil. Place in salmon, skin side down and cook for 1-2 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to medium, turn the salmon and cook for 3-5 minutes until medium-rare.
7. Remove salmon from the frying pan and set aside to cool. Once cool, break into chunky pieces.
8. Place the salmon chunks on top of the orzo, cover and refrigerate.
9. Steam the green vegetables and allow to cool.
10. Remove the orzo and salmon from the refrigerator, add the beans and snow peas and toss gently to combine (to avoid breaking up the salmon further).
11. Place in a large, shallow serving bowl. Dollop teaspoonfuls of the ricotta herb dressing over the salad and serve the remainder separately.