GREEK SALAD WITH SEAFOOD AND ORZO PASTA

SERVES 4

This recipe is a real bit of fusion, not fusion in the sense of different continents, like Asia and America for example, this a fusion of the Mediterranean and some of its countries!! They all share a love of well cooked, simple, fresh ingredients, prepared with a bit of love, and the most important thing, they all taste great in the sunshine!

Our recipe today takes a Greek Salad, one of the simplest, most classic, and tastiest salads there is, and fuses it with cooked seafood and orzo pasta creating an amazing summer salad.

This recipe relies on good ingredients to make the dish a success. There are a few ways you can go about the seafood element of the dish depending on both your budget and your skill in the kitchen. As the dish is a salad, and obviously served cold, you need seafood that has been cooked and cooled. You can either buy it like this or prepare it yourself, whatever you choose to do though make sure that the seafood is as fresh as possible – your taste buds wont regret it!

• ½ red onion
• 45ml red wine vinegar
• Pinch mustard powder
• 135ml extra virgin olive oil
• 12 small tomatoes quartered
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 1 cucumber seeds removed and diced
• 25 Kalamata olives pitted
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tsp ouzo
• 1tsp fresh oregano leaves
• 1tsp fresh chopped parsley
• generous pinch of dried oregano
• 150g feta crumbled
• 300g mixed cooked seafood such as mussels, squid, prawns, clams, langoustines, scallops, crab etc.
• 300g orzo pasta cooked as per packet instructions and cooled in cold water
• Salt and pepper

For the dressing whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, sugar and ouzo and season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl mix together all the other ingredients then add the dressing and mix again.

Season to taste with salt and pepper then serve.