Fast and Fresh Orzo Salad with Tomatoes, Basil and Feta

November and the Thanksgiving machine is warming up. In the Papadopoulos household, Thanksgiving preparation begins approximately three weeks before the actual day, because feeding twenty people requires planning that would impress a military logistician. Mama has already assigned dishes: turkey is mine, pastitsio is hers, spanakopita is a joint operation, and baklava is hers alone because nobody else is trusted with the baklava. This is not an insult. This is quality control.

I closed on a beautiful house in Palma Ceia this week — a Mediterranean-style home with a tile roof and an outdoor kitchen that made me want to move in and never leave. The buyers were a family from Boston with three children and a dog and the particular exhaustion of people who have been searching for six months and are ready to just buy something and sit down. I sat them down. In a beautiful house with a kitchen I would kill for. They cried when I handed them the keys. I cry too, sometimes, at closings. Not from sadness. From the knowledge that every key represents a new beginning, and new beginnings are the thing I have come to specialize in — professionally and personally.

Alexander is applying for scholarships with the same intensity he brings to everything. He has found fourteen scholarships he qualifies for. He has made a spreadsheet. He is applying to all fourteen. I said you do not need to apply to all fourteen. He said he does not know which ones he will get so he is applying to all of them. This is sound logic. It is also the logic of a boy raised by a woman who lost everything and rebuilt it and taught her children that you never, ever leave money on the table.

Sophia asked me what I am thankful for this year. I said I am thankful for avgolemono. She said be serious. I said I am always serious about avgolemono. She waited. I said I am thankful for you and Alexander and Mama and the bakery and the fact that the hurricane did not take our house and the fact that your brother got into college and the fact that you got straight A's and the fact that I am here, in this kitchen, talking to my daughter about thankfulness while a pot of something good simmers on the stove. She said that is a lot of things. I said Greek women are thankful in bulk.

I made a practice turkey brine this week — olive oil, lemon, oregano, garlic, bay leaves, salt — because Mama's Thanksgiving turkey brine requires advance testing and I will not serve an untested turkey to my family. The test brine was excellent. The practice chicken I brined in it was excellent. Everything is excellent. Thanksgiving approaches. The oven is ready. The family is ready. The olive oil is ready. It is always ready.

With Mama’s pastitsio and my turkey already spoken for, what I needed was something that could be made without a committee vote or a three-week lead time — something fast, bright, and unapologetically Greek that I could pull together between a closing and a scholarship spreadsheet review. This orzo salad with tomatoes, basil, and feta is exactly that: a dish that asks almost nothing of you and returns something that tastes like the good part of a busy week. It earns its spot on the Thanksgiving table not by competing with the pastitsio, but by quietly reminding everyone that olive oil fixes most things.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dry orzo pasta
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved (optional)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Cook the orzo. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook according to package directions, about 8–9 minutes, until al dente. Drain well and rinse briefly under cold water to stop cooking. Spread on a baking sheet for 5 minutes to cool and dry slightly.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, oregano, salt, and pepper until well combined.
Combine. Transfer the cooled orzo to a large mixing bowl. Add the cherry tomatoes, red onion, and olives if using. Pour the dressing over and toss gently to coat.
Add the fresh ingredients. Fold in the crumbled feta and torn basil just before serving to keep both bright and distinct. Taste and adjust salt and lemon as needed.
Serve or rest. Serve immediately at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours. If making ahead, hold back half the basil and feta to stir in fresh before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Fast and Fresh Orzo Salad with Tomatoes, Basil and Feta — A Little Greek on the Side of the Thanksgiving Table