Volunteer Stories | The Bowery Mission

Volunteer Stories | The Bowery Mission

This is about my friend Pauline and her work with The Bowery Mission in NYC.  You may also remember reading about her here.  What an amazing woman.

Smoked Salmon and Orzo Salad

Hubby’s birthday and Father’s Day fell on the same date this year, and we celebrated by gifting him with this Cookshack  electric smoker he had been “hinting” for over the past several months.  For a man who never really desires anything, it was nice to be able to do this for him.

So, the first smoker effort was salmon because it is one of our favorite foods.  Perfect Daughter’s friend gave us his recipe which he declared “delicious.”  Hubby cut the salmon into two pieces and followed the friend’s instructions exactly.

Unfortunately, our first meal of smoked salmon was not something we really enjoyed.  The fish had a great smoky flavor, but it was drier than we like.  Not one to waste food, I wrapped up the second piece to take home from the lake knowing that I could come up with a way to salvage it.  The result was this absolutely delicious Smoked Salmon and Orzo Salad adapted from a Cooking Light recipe.

Smoked Salmon  and Orzo Salad

Ingredients

6 cups water
1/2 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups orzo,
1 smoked (or grilled) salmon filet (about 1/2-3/4 pound)
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 cup diced green  or yellow bell pepper
1/4 cup chiffonade of basil
1/3 – 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper
Cherry tomatoes, halved (I did not use these for the first serving because I intended to serve it with a Cherokee Purple tomato that I already had on hand.)

(The vegetable amounts are very flexible.  Do them to your liking.)

Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add asparagus; cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Remove asparagus from water with tongs or a slotted spoon, reserving water in pan. Plunge asparagus into ice water; drain and set aside.

Return reserved water to a boil. Add orzo, and cook according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.   Drain well; rinse with cold water and drain again.

While orzo cooks, break fish into chunks. Combine fish, orzo, diced vegetables, feta and basil in a large bowl; toss gently with the Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette to coat.

I served it on top of the tomato and mixed spring greens.

Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh dill
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Whisk all together and toss with the salmon and orzo.
A surprise:  For whatever reason, this piece of salmon was cooked perfectly.  It was soooo good.  Go figure.

Linked to: Easy Natural Food

Dining With Debbie: Smoked Salmon and Orzo Salad

Dining With Debbie: Smoked Salmon and Orzo Salad