Roasted Vegetable Orzo

When you have a lot of vegetables and are not sure what to do with them, try this recipe.  The orzo reminds me of a rice based dish, but in reality it is more like a pasta salad.  You can mix up any kinds of vegetables to get a different taste or feel.  I meant to put kale into this salad, but once the roasted leaves came out of my oven, I devoured them.  If you can resist try them in this salad.  Roasting the vegetables sweetens the vegetables which makes this salad.  If you haven't cooked with orzo before, you should try it.  It cooks up easily and mixes well with any variety of vegetables and dressings.  The inspiration for this salad came from 101 cookbooks author Heidi Swanson.  If you haven't checked out her blog you should.

Roasted Veggie Orzo Salad
Roasted vegetables (I used brussel sprouts, broccoli, leeks, garlic and onions)
olive oil
salt
1 1/4 cups orzo (uncooked)
plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 400F.  Line  1-2 baking sheets with parchment paper (depends on how many vegetables you are roasting).  Cut all the vegetables (about 5-6 cloves of garlic) into similar sized pieces so they will all roast at the same rate.  Toss all the vegetables with olive oil and salt.  Bake for about 30 minutes.  Toss once or twice to make sure everything is roasted evenly.

Put water on to boil to cook the orzo.  Add salt.  When boiling add the orzo and cook according to package instructions.  Remove and run under cool water.  Toss with a little olive oil.  For dressing, remove the shell from the roasted garlic and mash it with a little salt and yogurt.  Add more yogurt (about a half cup in total) and add more garlic to taste.

When ready to serve, toss the orzo, roasted vegetables and yogurt (start with half and adjust for taste).  For topping you can use toasted sesame or pumpkin seeds, and/or scallions.