hey guys Christina Layne here from
desert for two calm day we're making
another dinner for two recipe we're
making a grilled vegetable pasta salad
using orzo pasta my mom makes a version
of this recipe that she serves alongside
rotisserie chicken but today I want to
beef it up with a bunch of yummy summer
grilled vegetables and feta cheese and
make it a hearty main dish let's get
started the first thing we want to do
for our grilled vegetable orzo pasta
salad is make our dressing so it's lemon
based we're gonna grate the zest of one
whole lemon into our serving bowl I use
a microplane for this it helps me get
just the surface of the lemon and
nothing more you don't want any of the
white part from the lemon just a gentle
scrape over the surface once the zest of
the lemon is really where the oils are
so we make this dressing ahead of time
and let it soak and the flavors of the
lemon go into the olive oil to this you
want to add about a tablespoon of olive
oil then we need a very generous pinch
of salt see it's gonna be about 1/2
teaspoon total and then grate in some
fresh black pepper can go heavy on this
I think this is what gives it so much
flavor whisk this together and as it
sits the lemon zest will begin to infuse
the olive oil with its flavor all right
now it's time to add our orzo pasta to
our boiling water this is one cup of
orzo pasta this will cook up and do
almost double its size which is the
perfect portion for two our pasta water
is boiling it has a big pinch of salt in
it I'm going to add the orzo to the
water
fit a quick stir and let it come up back
to a boil and cook it for about 10
minutes check the directions on your
pasta box this pan this is my grill pan
I'm going to preheat this and this is
how we're going to grill our veggies you
can absolutely use an outdoor grill
I think these grill pans are great
though they give you the nice grill
marks that you want and there's so much
easier to clean
now that our grill pan is preheating
let's chop our veggies I have here a
half of a red bell pepper leftover from
some other dinner for two I was making
most likely take out the membrane take
out the little ribs and all of the seeds
and slice it into quarters just two and
then we also have a yellow squash from
the garden just cut the top off and the
bottom and then try as best as you can
to slice it completely in half this is a
small zucchini cut both ends off and
then do the same thing you did for the
yellow squash cut it in half a few
slices of red onion just cut the end off
and peel it let's do it in half two
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once the pretty rings on the girl they
look really pretty in the salad okay
let's take these veggies to the girl pan
place them all they should sizzle these
have been grilling on the first tie for
about five minutes it's time to flip
them you'll see the nice pretty grill
mark give them about five minutes on the
next side too and it's time to drain our
pasta right after you drain it it's
really important that it goes into the
dressing immediately the hot pasta will
begin to soak up that lemon dressing so
give it a quick toss oh you can already
smell just the steam and heat of the
pasta hitting the lemon zest it already
smells so lemony peppery oh it smells so
good what I like to do also and this is
entirely optional is add a few little
Tomatoes I don't grow these obviously
because of their size but I just think
the sweetness of a cherry tomato is
really welcomed here just a handful and
toss them straight into that pasta
not at all I think it's time to pull our
grilled veggies off of the pan okay
you're nice and caramelized with grill
marks on both sides okay we're gonna let
them cool just for a second and then
we'll slice them up and add them to our
pasta I let the veggies cool for just a
few minutes so they're cool enough to
handle and slice just line them up and
slice them into about bite-sized pieces
they cut really easily because they're
nice and tender from the grill pan okay
and then finally our bell peppers I like
to cut these into little strips okay
final touch a little bit of feta cheese
and toss
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the final touch on this pasta salad is
fresh parsley
fresh parsley and lemon love each other
it just makes the flavors bright and
clean and it goes great with all the
grilled char flavors on the veggies okay
time for a taste
I want my bite to have a little feta a
little grilled onion a little squash mmm
you guys have to make those this is the
perfect quintessential summer grilled
vegetable orzo pasta salad the lemon
dressing goes so well with the char on
the veggies the feta the lemon zest the
fresh parsley all the flavors just play
together so nicely here for the full
recipe visit dessert for two calm