Honey and Peaches and Orzo, Oh My!
I love summer peaches and I love hot honey. This recipe didn’t call for the jalapenos or the cabbage, but I made an executive decision (who do I have to report to anyway) to make those changes. It was hard for me to find a good peach this summer. I have decided if I buy one more mealy tasting peach that I’m going to start taking a bite out of one before I buy — if good, I will buy more, if bad, I will just pay for the one I snacked on.
With summer almost over and most schools back in session, I’ve got one more summer salad for you and with Labor Day almost here this will make the perfect take-a-long salad if you are invited to a party. I took this to our Round Top Lunch Bunch a few weeks ago and I think everyone liked it.
Summer was not kind on our garden that my husband planted. The okra is still growing tall and even he has a hard time reaching it to cut the pods. BUT, the tomatoes and peppers have already been pulled up, never got any eggplant we planted, only a few shishito peppers, a couple of bell peppers and enough cherry tomatoes that I didn’t buy any this summer. Also, I bought the wrong tomatoes. I was so looking forward to a big juicy tomato to cut and put on a BLT or a big green tomato I could fry and put on a BLT. Oh well, maybe a fall garden.
I hope any of you who might be reading had wonderful gardens this summer. I could not even find a farmer’s market and we live in the country. I think I usually wait to late in the season to start looking. Maybe we can grow some greens and my baby bok choy this fall.
Hope you all had a wonderful summer and looking forward to some cool/cold weather and some comfort food that I’m ready to make
BLAST FROM THE PAST: My Kind of Hardware Store is a store we visited when in Spain (Seville). I love finding unique gadgets. Even this olive pitter was interesting.
Dressing ingredients. Mix together and refrigerate until ready to use.
Great combination of ingredients for this salad.
I added some jalapenos to the salad because I thought they would go with the peaches — and they did.
Have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go.
Start adding your ingredients to your bowl starting with the cooked oro then corn.
Add the cooked chicken.
Add your washed and chopped peaches. I left the peeling on because I liked the color it added to the salad.
Add in the pearl mozzarella pieces.
Add enough dressing to moisten. I used a little of the dressing to toss with the finely shredded red cabbage that I garnished the bowl with. Save remainder of dressing because if you make this early in day you may want to drizzle with more dressing
Hot Honey Peach and Chicken Orzo Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz. orzo pasta cooked
- 1 lb. boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenders
- smoked paprika to taste
- cumin to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 large peaches diced (leaving peeling on)
- 2 ears of fresh corn cooked and cut kernels off
- 8 oz. mozzarella pearls
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 1/2 c. fresh basil sliced thin
- 1-2 jalapenos seed and chopped fine
- Hot Honey Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 c. olive oil
- 1/3 c. hot honey
- 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp. salt
- crack black pepper to taste.
- 2 c. finely shredded red cabbage
Instructions
- Cook the orzo according to package directions and then drain and set aside to cool. Once this has cooled add to a large mixing bowl.
- Make the vinaigrette -- Whisk the olive oil, hot honey, cider vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, Dijon mustard and the salt and pepper.
- Season the chicken on both sides with paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Saute chicken in a pan over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes per side until they are done and no longer pink. Cut into bite-sie pieces and set aside to cool.
- Toss the Chicken, peaches, corn, mozarella, red onion, jalapeno and fresh basil with the orzo. Pour on enough vinaigrette over top and toss to coat to your liking.
Garish with extra basil and serve immediately or cover and chill for a few hours. If you decide to refrigerate you may want to add a little more dressing right before serving. I also used two cups of finely shredded red cabbage and added a little of the dressing and then used this on the outside rib of the bowl as a pretty garnish.
Recipe Notes
You can use rotisserie chicken and replace the "cooking chicken" step. I would only use fresh corn in this recipe.
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