Greek Shrimp Orzo Salad

This is a new recipe that I just tried and it was a hit (at least with the guys).  The girls in our family won’t eat shrimp, except for me and I love it!  It’s easy to stir this together and makes a great side dish or even a meal in itself.  I bought precooked frozen shrimp, in the extra large size for this salad.  If you have to buy it with the tails on (as I did), the tails are very easy to remove once the shrimp is thawed.

Ingredients:

12 0z package (approx.) frozen precooked extra large shrimp peeled and deveined with tails off, thawed

1 package crumbled traditional feta cheese (approx. 6 oz.)

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

1 small can Kalamata olives, drained

2 green onions, sliced

3 Tablespoon fresh dill or 1 Tbls. dried dill (fresh is always preferable if available)

3 Tablespoon olive oil

3 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 1/2 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice shaped pasta) or other very small pasta

Cook orzo in salted water according to directions on package.  Test often for doneness so as not to overcook.  Orzo cooks fairly quickly.  You don’t want mushy pasta for this.  Rinse in cold water to stop cooking, drain, and place in mixing bowl large enough to hold other ingredients as well.

Add olive oil to pasta and toss to coat.  Add feta, olives, tomatoes, green onions and garlic.

Add shrimp, salt, pepper, dill, lemon juice, vinegar and stir all together until well mixed.

Refrigerate until well chilled and serve.  Delicious!