Thursday, August 5, 2010

Good Taste: Greek-Style Picnic Salad

From September 2007 Cooking Light

2 cups uncooked write rice
1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
8 cups bagged, prewashed spinach (about 8 oz.)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups (8 oz.) reduced-fat feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 1/2-oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
10 lemon wedges

1. Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Cool to room temperature; set aside.

2. Combine boiling water and sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl; let stand 30 minutes or until soft. Drain and cut into 1-inch pieces.

3. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add spinach and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until spinach wilts. Combine rice, tomatoes, spinach mixture, cheese, and next 5 ingredients (though chickpeas). Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon oil; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with nuts; serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Thoughts: Perfect last-minute meal, as most of the ingredients are already in the pantry. Would be so good with pine nuts, but pine nuts are as expensive as diamonds these days. Was there a pine nut catastrophe? This is such a deceivingly quick dish and very tasty.

1 comment:

Holly said...

Look into "pine nut mouth" and you will see why pine nuts are harder to find. Too much controversy over where the pine nuts are coming from and companies possibly selling the wrong type of pine nut is probably driving supply down and price up.

Thanks for the recipes!