Feast of Mediterranean Flavors (Traditional Balsamic, Tuscan Herb Olive Oil)
/Side Dish Club recipes were designed to be produced by weight in grams so that nutrition information could be calculated so you will need a scale to replicate them.
Each recipe produces four servings for a side dish next to a main dish. This size is 115 grams or about 4 ounces (1/4 lb) in weight and about 3/4 cup in volume. For a full meal, you would double the serving size, and this recipe would produce two.
This recipe is inspired by my teenage trips to Greece where I fell in love kalamta olives and would eat them like candy.
What you will need:
Whole grain orzo pasta
Fresh vine ripened tomoto (1 large or 2 medium sized)
Persian style cucumber (1 large or 2 small)
Chard leaves with center spline removed (prefer white chard, but may substitute other color or even other greens like black kale or spinach) - 3 to 4 leaves is plenty
Red onion - a few slices
Fresh mint - a handful
Kalamta olives (pitted)
Green olives (pitted)
Crumbled feta cheese (purchase crumbled or buy a block and crumble yourself)
Pine Nuts
Traditional balsamic vinegar
Tuscan herb olive oil
Cook the pasta.
Measure out about 110 grams of raw orozo pasta to end up with about 163 grams of cooked pasta for your recipe. Cook in accordance with package instructions and then drain thoroughly. I suggest letting it sit in a colander for 10-15 minutes to drain.
Measure out 163 grams, fluff it up and set it aside to cool in the refrigerator. If you have a little more or less than 163 grams, do not worry. Unless you want the nutrition information to match exactly, you can go a little under or over on the pasta.
Wash and dry your veggies.
You can do this while the pasta is draining and cooling.
I always thoroughly wash my garden ingredients before using them. I create a vinegar wash (about 1 cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water) and place the garden ingredients into the vinegar wash for about 5 minutes before rinsing. This is just “me” as I worry about germs on fresh veggies. But the vinegar wash is certainly optional.
Also thoroughly dry your greens, which in this case are the chard leaves (or substitute) and mint leaves, before using. You want to avoid using wet vegetables because the water on the vegetables will water down your dressing and thus your flavor. I usually just set my leaves out to dry, but if you are in a rush, you can use a fan set on low to blow are over them and accelerate drying.
You can wash your tomatoes and cucumbers and just dry them off with a towel.
Prepare and measure your other ingredients.
For measuring I suggest the following:
Set your scale on the counter and turn it on.
Make sure it is set to grams.
Set a large bowl on the side to hold all of your measured ingredients.
Set a smaller container on the scale to collect your individual ingredients
Tare out the scale to remove the weight of the container on the scale.
Next …
Tomato: Slice your tomato and remove the seeds. You can set the seeds aside to use in any sauce. Dice the remaining tomato pulp and skin into small pieces. Place the tomato pieces into the bowl on the scale until you have 72 grams and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Cucumber: Slice the ends off of the cucumber and then slice in the long way into halves and then quarters. Remove most of the center seeds and save them with your tomato seeds for sauce. Slice each quarter down the long way again and then dice the long skinny strips into small pieces. Place cucumber pieces into the bowl on the scale until you have 48 grams and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Chard Leaves: Slice the leaves into long narrow strips and then slice along the strips to get finally chopped leaves. Place the chard into the bowl on the scale until you have 36 grams and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Fresh Mint: Remove the leaves from the stems. Finely chop the leaves. Place the chopped mint into the bowl on the scale until you have 5 grams and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Red Onion: Slice onion thinly and then dice finely. Place the diced onion into the bowl on the scale until you have 20 grams and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Pine Nuts: Measure out 15 grams into the bowl on the scale and then put into larger bowl. Return the bowl to the scale and re-tare the scale.
Olives: Measure out the closest approximation to grams as you can, since you are measuring whole olives as follows: kalamata olives = 20 grams and green olives 15 grams. Chop the olives and put them into the larger bowl. Re-tare the scale.
Feta Cheese: Measure out 25 grams into the bowl on the scale. You can add all of it into the larger bowl, or put about 2/3 in and save 1/3 to sprinkle on top when serving. Either way is okay.
Make your dressing.
Place a medium size mixing bowl on the scale.
Pour in 29 grams of dark traditional balsamic vinegar.
Pour in 15 grams of Tuscan herb olive oil.
Remove bowl from scale and whisk using a wire whisk briskly until ingredients are fully emulsified, i.e. thick, creamy, and not separating.
(Note that I tend to go light on dressing. Many side dish customers wanted a little more dressing and for them I would add extra on the side. For the dressing rich flavor increase the amount of each ingredient by 50%. Just note that this will affect the nutrition information.)
Assemble your side dish.
By now your orzo pasta should be nice and cool, so it is time to bring all of the ingredients together.
Mix your dressing into your pasta until thoroughly mixed. This ensures that the dressing is fully distributed but prevents your other ingredients from becoming over processed via mixing.
Add in all of the other ingredients and mix lightly so that everything is well distributed.
If you saved some of the feta cheese, put it on when serving.
Nutrition Facts.
