Home Style Austin Orzo Salad Recipe

A Great-Tasting Orzo Salad

If you love orzo short-cut pasta as much as I do, you’ll want to try this Home Style Austin house favorite – you might find it becoming a regular side or main dish at your dinner table.

Foodie Tips:

• You can make this salad ahead of time and let it chill in the refrigerator – perfect to take on-the-go for a picnic or to the office for lunchtime.
• You can also serve it warm and introduce some protein to make it a main course meal; adding chicken or roasted rotisserie chicken makes this dish delicious!
• If you’re shy with raw onion you can eliminate it or reduce it to ¼ cup.
• I added goat cheese to lessen the intensity of the blue cheese flavor (sorry, blue cheese); if you prefer one cheese over the other you can go all the way and use ½ cup of your favorite cheese.
• Don’t have – or can’t get – Trader Joe’s Artichoke Antipasto? You can substitute 2-4 ounces of marinated artichoke hearts.

Ingredients: 

½ Cup  |  Orzo Pasta (Prepared)
2 -3 Ounces  |  Trader Joe’s Artichoke Antipasto
1 Medium  |  Tomato, Chopped
½ Cup  |  Celery, Chopped
½ Cup |  Red Onion, Chopped
¼ Cup  |  Crumbled Goat Cheese
¼ Cup  |  Crumbled Blue Cheese
½ Cup |  Black Olives, Chopped
2 Tablespoons  |  Fresh Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Chopped (Optional)
1 Tablespoon  |  Fresh Lemon Juice
½ Teaspoon  |  Dry Oregano
½ Teaspoon  |  Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Directions: 

1. Prepare the orzo according to package directions, drain and chill in the refrigerator while you’re preparing the rest of the ingredients.

2. When the remaining ingredients are all ready stir them into the orzo and chill 1-2 hours.

Yields: 4-6 servings. Enjoy!

Love this recipe? We want to hear from you!

 

 

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

❤ Love Food? In a click and a scroll you can visit more of my favorite recipes!

 

Joe’s Bruschetta Completa Recipe

❤ Valentine’s Day 2014 Featured Post ❤

Bruschetta Completes Me

As an avid traveler to Italy, I fell in love with the simplicity of Italian foods.

While Italian bruschetta (sounds like “brew-ske-tuh“) may sometimes omit the tomato mixture, this is my own recipe for making a tasty and simple tomato bruschetta that’s sure to “complete you,” (hence the recipe’s name – a personal term of endearment). I usually serve this bruschetta as an appetizer, although I’ve been known to enjoy a few slices as my main course as I love tomatoes and bread.

Foodie Tips:

• I found my ciabatta at my local Austin HEB. It comes in loaves or mini-loaves. I prefer to buy the thickest loaves I can find. If you have a personal favorite Austin artisan bread company that you like, share the love.
• I strive to serve my bruschetta fresh out of the oven. I know I’ve prepared my bruschetta perfectly when the bread is warm and the tomatoes are just a bit cool; it’s a great combination! You can also serve this dish at room temperature. To prevent soggy bread, top the toasted bread with the tomato mixture just before serving.

Ingredients: 

3  |  Roma Tomatoes, Seeded and Chopped
1  |  Garlic Clove, Peeled and Pressed (or minced)
6-8  |  Fresh Basil Leaves, Torn by Hand
1-2 Tablespoons  |  Extra Virgin Olive Oil (use the good stuff)
To Taste  |  Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Loaf  |  Ciabatta Bread, Sliced Horizontally Then Sliced Into Serving Pieces
Splash  |  Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2-3  |  Garlic Cloves, Peeled and Cracked (yields 4-6 pieces of bread)

What To Do:

1. In a medium-sized bowl stir the tomatoes, fresh minced garlic, basil, oil, salt and pepper. Set aside and let marinate 20-30 minutes.

2. About 20 minutes into the marination, preheat your oven to high/broil.

3. Place your sliced ciabatta on a cookie sheet lined with foil and place a tiny splash of more olive oil on top of the bread.

4. Toast the bread in your oven for 3-5 minutes (please, no burning).

5. While your bread is in the oven, stir your marinated tomatoes then pop them in the refrigerator for a few minutes to chill a bit.

6. Remove the bread from the oven. Rub 1-2 slices of bread with a cracked piece of garlic (with fork or hand) and let rest for 2-3 minutes. Rub new cracked garlic cloves on the remaining bread slices (1 garlic clove will yield 1-2 slices of bread).

7. Top bread with your fresh tomato mixture and serve.

Buon appetito!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

❤ Love Valentine’s Day? Visit our post called “Valentine’s Day The Home Style Way” for our ideas for how to make your day extra special at home. We’re pairing our favorite appetizer, main course, desserts and wine along with some great “at-home” movie recommendations sure to melt hearts.

Mini Turkey Cornucopias Recipe

If you’re looking for a creative way to make use of those Thanksgiving leftovers consider this mini turkey cornucopia recipe.

You can stuff these horns o’ plenty with almost anything your appetite desires!

Tips:

  Don’t overcook the bread; it’s best served fresh from the oven. We found that Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations Seamless Dough Sheets cut into long  ¼” – ½” strips work well. The number of cornucopias you can yield from your bread recipe will depend on your wrapping technique.

  We bought the paper drinking cups at our local HEB but if you’re cupless you can shape your foil cornucopia liner entirely by hand. It will take a little more foil, time and patience but totally doable in a pinch.

  My favorite pickle is a Wickles Pickle. My favorite mustard is Jack Daniels Old No. 7 Mustard.

Ingredients and Materials:

A Few Pieces  |  Nonstick Aluminum Foil
6-10 Small  |  Paper Drinking Cups
A Few Squirts  |  Cooking Spray
Your Favorite  |  Croissants, Puff Pastry Or Bread Recipe
1  |  Cage Free Egg, Beaten
2 Tablespoons  |  Water
1  |  Pastry Brush
To Stuff And Serve  |  Your Favorite Thanksgiving Fixings (turkey, bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomato, pickle, dressing, mayonnaise, mustard, gravy, etc.)

What To Do:

1. To form the cornucopia, wrap a small piece of foil around a small paper drinking cup. Tuck foil around the rim of the cup and shape the end of the foil into a curvy tail as shown below. Spray the foil on the cornucopia with the cooking spray.

2. Using long strips of your dough start at the small end of the foil cornucopia form and closely wrap the dough around the form from tail to top, leaving no foil exposed. You can connect strips of the dough together by brushing a bit of beaten egg to the ends of the dough when forming. Set aside on a greased cooking sheet.

3. Continue wrapping the cornucopia forms with the dough. When all the cornucopias are complete make an egg wash by adding 2 tablespoons of water to your remaining egg. Brush each cornucopia with the wash using the pastry brush and return it to the cookie sheet.

4. Bake the cornucopias according to the dough-baking instructions. Remove from oven and cool. Free the bread cornucopia from the foil base by gently wiggling the cup from the dough – bend/crush the cup if necessary and discard the cup and foil.

5. Let your guests build their own cornucopias to their preference “Subway sandwich style” or you can make them in advance. Have fun with your stuffings – there are lots of possibilities!

Serves 4-6 hungry folks. 

Gobble ’till you wobble and make it a great Thanksgiving!

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.

Avocado and Bacon Potato Salad Recipe

When I stumbled across this unique potato salad recipe that packs a lotta punch compliments of avocado and sour cream instead of hard boiled eggs and mayo, I knew I had to give it a whirl. It hails from the cookbook of my marketing director’s Mom and it has a taste as big as Texas.

This potato salad made its debut in my cucina on the 4th of July in 2011 and it has since visited many, many times. Your foodie friends will ask you to make it again and again so it makes any day a special day.

Food Tips: 

  The original recipe called for “regular ol’ parsley” for decoration but I prefer Italian Flat leaf as it’s less tickley on the tongue and can boast more flavor.

  You can cube (vs. slice) the tomatoes and avocados for the final garnish but either makes a dy-no-mite presentation. Remember that even with a lemon juice coating the avocado can brown after it has been sitting awhile … so dress the salad near the time you are going to present and consume it. Go fresh.

Ingredients:

3 Cups  |  Potatoes, Cooked Then Cubed
1 Cup  |  Sour Cream
½ Teaspoon  |  Salt
½ Teaspoon  |  Seasoned Pepper (a.k.a. Lawry’s Seasoned Salt with Black Pepper)
½ Teaspoon  |  Caraway Seed
1 Tablespoon + Some Extra  |  Lemon Juice
¼ Cup  |  Italian Flat Leaf Parsley Sprigs (chopped)
3  | Avocados (ripe, not hard)
¼ Cup  |  Chopped Onions
8 Slices  |  Hickory-Smoked Bacon (crisped and crumbled)
1  |  Large Tomato (diced)

What To Do:

1. Scrub then boil the potatoes in a medium-sized pot. Boil until tender, but not “mushy.” Set aside to cool.

2. Blend the sour cream with the salt, pepper, caraway seed and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Set aside to marry.

3. Chop the parsley to yield ¼ cup; set aside.

4. Cut 2 of the avocados lengthwise into halves, removing the seed and skin.

5. Cube the avocado and gently combine it in a medium-sized salad bowl with the chopped parsley, potatoes, chopped onion, the sour cream mixture and ½ of the bacon.

6. Arrange additional chopped parsley sprigs on the top of the salad, cover and chill.

7. To serve, prepare the remaining avocado by slicing lengthwise into halves. Remove the seed and skin and cut into slices. Slice the tomato.

8. Alternate the avocado and tomato slices on top of the potato salad and sprinkle with lemon juice and the remaining bacon.

Serves: One to Few. It’s that good. 

~ Joe Paul Reider

Home Style Austin Founder
Austin Realtor®
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.