Orzo Salad

This is one of my favorite go-to side dishes because its so super easy to make - especially in the summertime for picnics and outdoor events because its a pasta salad that has a vinegar based dressing, therefore heat will not contaminate it.  Orzo is a really fun little pasta because it acts almost as a rice, it absorbs all of the liquid that it is being cooked in.  To make this orzo salad you will need:

4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzo (uncooked)
1 red onion
1 can chick peas (also called garbanzo beans)
1-1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes (cut in halves or thirds)
Fresh mint
Fresh basil
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (although I used balsamic because that's all I had on hand)
2 tbsp honey (or agave nectar)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
the juice of half a lemon

The first thing you want to do is take your chicken broth and put it in a heavy bottomed pot (I prefer to use a non-stick pot when working with orzo because it helps to keep it from sticking after all the water is absorbed).  Set the heat on high and cover until the broth begins to boil.  Add the 1 1/2 cups of dry orzo to the chicken broth, cover and reduce heat to a simmer.

While the orzo is cooking you can finely chop your red onion, tomato, mint, and basil.  When the orzo is done cooking it should look like this...notice all of the water is absorbed.

Move the orzo to a large bowl and allow to cool before adding the chick peas, red onion, tomatoes, basil, and mint.  While it is cooling you can make the dressing.  To do this first you whisk together the vinegar with the lemon juice, honey or agave nectar, and salt...then you will SLOWLY add the olive oil making sure that you are whisking continually as the oil is being added in a steady stream.  By doing this you are emulsifying the dressing.

When the dressing is completely emulsified it will look like this...

Once the orzo is cooled you can add all of the ingredients as well as about half of the dressing...the rest of the dressing you want to save for serving later because when the orzo is chilling in the refrigerator it tends to soak up a lot of the dressing.  Make sure that you re-dress the salad right before serving.  It can be served room temperature, but it is best served cold.