Eggplant and tomatoes are roasted in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. While the vegetables roast, cooked orzo is tossed with fresh herbs and cheese. A homemade lemon garlic dressing is mixed into the orzo with the cooked vegetables. Everything is tossed together and served room temperature or cold. This recipe is an easy to make weeknight meal or side dish.
Course
Pasta, Side Dish
Cuisine
Mediterranean
Prep Time10minutes
Cook Time25minutes
Total Time35minutes
Servings4people
Ingredients
Roasted Eggplant
1medium purple eggplant1 lb, sliced into ¾ inch cubes
2tbspolive oil
Salt & pepper
Roasted Tomatoes
1cupcherry tomatoeshalved
1tspolive oil
Salt & pepper
Orzo
½lbwhole wheat orzo
⅓cupcrumbled feta
¼cupchopped fresh basil
¼cupchopped fresh parsley
2tbsppine nutstoasted
Lemon garlic dressing
2tbspolive oil
1tbsplemon juice
2clovesgarlicpressed or minced
¼tspsaltmore to taste
⅛tspred pepper flakes
Black pepper
Instructions
Eggplant
Combine ingredients in a storage baggie, marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, arrange eggplant in single layer. Roast on middle rack until tender about 25 minutes, tossing halfway.
Tomatoes
On a separate baking sheet lined with parchment paper, toss halved tomatoes with olive oil and salt and pepper. Place tomatoes in oven after turning eggplant. Cook about 12 minutes.
Orzo
Cook orzo according to package. Reserve 1 cup pasta water. Transfer orzo to a bowl.
Dressing
Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Drizzle over warm orzo, toss to coat. Add eggplant, tomatoes, feta, basil, parsley and pine nuts. Toss to combine. If pasta is too dry add reserved pasta water and/or olive oil. Taste, you may need to add ¼ tsp salt and black pepper.
Recipe Notes
Mozzarella cheese can be substituted for feta, also I omitted the pine nuts. You can also use any type of tomato you prefer