Chicken Orzo Salad With Goat Cheese

Submitted by dicentra

"This is just the sort of thing I love taking to work for lunch. Cooking Light. April 2008."

 

• Ready In: 20mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 1 1⁄4 cups uncooked orzo pasta
• 3 cups chopped grilled chicken breast strips
• 1 1⁄2 cups trimmed arugula
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1⁄2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1⁄4 cup chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1⁄8 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
• 6 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese

directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well.
2. Combine pasta, chicken, and the next 6 ingredients (through oregano) in a large bowl; toss well.
3. Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
4. Drizzle vinegar mixture over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

Reviews

[Dr. Jenny]

DH and I made this tonight mostly to take to work for lunch tomorrow, but we had a little bit as a light dinner as well. This recipe is really good and I know that I will definitely be making it again. I had to improvise a little by using canned tomatoes and I fell short of the requisite amount of arugula so I added a little baby spinach to supplement. This worked fine. I know the salad would taste even better with fresh grape tomatoes and more fresh arugula (mine was a little old). I'm copying this one down and look forward to having it again tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[BerrySweet]

Can't say enough good things about this recipe. Liked it so much that we made it twice in one week. Such fabulous flavors. This tastes great with warm grilled pita bread. The only thing I did differently was to cut back on the amount of pasta, and increase the lettuce so it was more of a green salad, and less of a pasta salad.