Roasted Veggie Greek Orzo Salad

This delicious summer dish highlights easy-to-grow ingredients that rely on pollination services. More than 200,000 species of pollinators contribute to stabilizing our food supply, so let’s do our part to raise awareness about the importance of pollinators while creating some appetizing meals in the process. Grow your own pollinator garden with vegetables and herbs from Bentley Seed Co. 

Ingredients:

8-oz package of orzo (if you use a whole box just add more veggies to this dish) 

1 eggplant, peeled and diced

1 red onion, diced

2 red peppers 

2-3 garlic or shallot cloves 

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper

Dressing: 

Lemon juice (from 2 lemons) 

⅓ cup olive oil

salt and pepper 

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

½ tsp Dijon mustard

Add-ins to assemble:

Handful of fresh basil 

½ cup feta cheese

Black pepper

4-5 scallions 

1 cucumber diced (optional) 

1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved (optional) 

¼ cup of pine nuts (optional but adds a lot of texture to dish) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. 
2. Mix eggplant, red onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, garlic/shallots in olive oil,  and salt and pepper on a large sheet pan. Roast for 40- 45 minutes. Turn once at the 20 min mark. 
3. While the eggplant is roasting, cook the orzo in boiling water for 9 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large pasta/serving bowl. After the veggies have roasted and cooled down a bit,  toss them into the pasta. 
4. Make the dressing (see above) then mix it in with the veggies and pasta. Add the scallions, feta, basil and if you want to add in some black olives or cucumber to make it more of a Mediterranean dish, feel free to do so. Experiment with vegetables and herbs. You can use Parsley – Plain Italian Seed or even Mint Seeds for Sale | Peppermint Seeds | Bentley Seeds to add some fresh green to the dish. This dish looks beautiful and is always a crowd pleaser! Bon Appetit! Enjoy your summer gatherings. 

Fun Fact: The more pollen transferred, the more seeds that develop, and the bigger the vegetable or fruit!! Check out these pollinator mixes from our website to have bigger veggies in your garden!