Orzo Salad

Ingredients

• 10 1/2 ozorzo
• 1/4 cupolive oil
• 1lemon, zest and juice
• 8 3/4 ozcherry tomatoes, halved
• 1cucumber, seeded and diced
• 1/2red onion, finely sliced
• 3 1/2 ozkalamata olives, pitted and halved
• 5 1/4 ozfeta cheese, crumbled
• 3/4 ozfresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 1/2 tspsea salt

Method

1. 1

   Boil the orzo in well-salted water until just tender, about nine minutes — it goes from firm to mushy faster than most pasta shapes, so taste it early. Drain it but do not rinse.

2. 2

   Tip the hot drained orzo straight into a wide bowl and pour over the olive oil, the lemon zest and juice, the dried oregano and the salt. Toss and leave it to cool, tossing once or twice more as it goes.

3. 3

   Halve the cherry tomatoes, seed and dice the cucumber, and slice the red onion as finely as you can manage. Halve the olives.

4. 4

   When the orzo is at room temperature, fold through the tomatoes, cucumber, onion and olives. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon now, not before — cold food needs more of both.

5. 5

   Scatter the crumbled feta and the chopped parsley over the top and fold through lightly, so the feta stays in pieces rather than dissolving into the dressing.