Sunday was beautiful! We took full advantage and broke out the grill one last time before winter hits to hard. It was a “big game”, the Patriots playing the Jets, so we grilled up delicious goodness and had a fab time with some friends, our little guy, and a cute new little puppy! He was so soft! Now let me preface with my boyfriends obsession with the Patriots! OBSESSED. He has every style Jersey, and makes sure to match it to the Jersey the players are wearing, he will not miss a game for anything, and I mean anything…for example: he pushed back his basic training date way back when, because the Patriots made it to the Superbowl! He does not do anything on Sundays during Football season except drink some beers, eat some good food, and scream at the television! haha It has become my favorite day of the week, we totally look forward to it all week-long, and we always have a blast! I loooove cooking for people and having them test my food, so I spend all morning cooking up so fab eats!!
This past Sunday was a big one against the Jets, needless to say, there was A LOT of screaming going on, between the Patriots and Jets fans at our house! hah It was fun 🙂 We grilled up lots of BBQ Chicken, Steaks that had been sitting in a Montreal Steak Seasoning and Old Bay rub, and Pork chops that were marinating in a mesquite marinade! SO GOOD! With all this meat, I felt the need to throw in a little side pasta salad. We’ve become obsessed with orzo! There is so much you can do with it, it’s so versatile, and its so quick to cook up! So I grabbed some peppers and onions from the fridge and we grilled them up to create this delicious beauty! (It was soo colorful!)
First take your peppers and quarter them and scrape out the insides. I used one yellow, one green, and one orange pepper. Take your onion and quarter that as well, you don’t want it falling through the cracks of the grill! Grill them for approximately 5 minutes, until they have a little bit of a black charred look to them.
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Allow them to cool for a few minutes, until you can tough them without burning your fingers! Next you want to chop up all of your delicious looking peppers and onions. While you are doing this, start cooking your orzo. Use about a pound of orzo, approximately two cups. When its finished cooking, it takes about 8-10 minutes, drain and pour into a bowl.
Allow the orzo to cool for a few minutes, while you chop up your garlic and parsley and prepare to zest a lemon.
Chop up a small bunch of parsley, about a 1/2 cup, mince two cloves of garlic finely, and zest one lemon. Add it all together into the bowl or orzo and add the chopped onions and peppers!
Isn’t already so beautiful?!
Stir it all together. Add salt and pepper to taste. I used about 1/2 tsp salt and 12 turns of the pepper grinder, (sorry for the random amount!) Its ready! You can either serve it warm, or chill it in the fridge before serving. I chilled it first, I was in the mood for a cold salad! It’s just so pretty! It was super refreshing with the fresh lemon zest, and all the grilled peppers and onion added so much flavor! Enjoy! It’s so quick!
Orzo with Grilled Peppers and Onion
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time:Â 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 orange pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 lb. orzo
- 1/2 c. parsley
- Zest of one lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Take your three peppers and onion and quarter them.
- Grill them for about five minutes.
- Start cooking your orzo while chopping your peppers and onions.
- Once orzo is done, drain, and poor into a bowl. Throw in your chopped peppers and onions.
- Mince your garlic and chop up your parsley. Add it to the bowl and zest one whole lemon.
- Mix it all up. Add Salt and Pepper to taste!
- Serve warm or chilled and Enjoy!