Whole Wheat Orzo Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Roasted Sweet Pepper Vinaigrette

I came home yesterday after a great training session at Chok Sabai which by the way is an amazing place to train at. I wanted to make something colorful and healthy with loads of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates which are essential after a workout for a clean recovery. To be honest I love dishes that are colorful and full of fresh flavor. It's just a pleasure to look at and especially to eat.

The pasta along with edamame served me with a great source of carbohydrates, fiber and protein. The veggies are an excellent addition of different type of vitamins and minerals. You should always try to have different colorful veggies as they provide us with different types of nutrients. The more colorful the veggie the more benefits it has to offer to our bodies :). Got to love all those veggies. I also decided to add some roasted salmon over a crunchy horseradish topping. The salmon was a great addition, because of its lean protein, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, magnesium and Omega 3 fatty acids which are great for the heart.

You will need the follwoing ingredients for this recipe:

1 pounds of Whole Wheat Orzo Pasta
1 small to medium Butternut Squash
1 medium Eggaplant

1 medium Sweet Red Pepper

1 mango optional

1 small Jalapeno Pepper seeds removed raw or roasted. I like it more roasted.

1/2 Raw or slightky toasted Alomnds

1 cup Edamame
5 cloves garlic
1/2 shallot, or green or red onion
1 medium piece of fresh Horseradish
2 to 3 pieces of 5 ounce Salmon Fillets
Sherry Wine Vinegar
Honey
Dijon Mustard

Pre-Heat oven to 450F

1) Take the Butternut Suash and peel the skin off.

2) Take the Eggplant and cut it in half.

3) Cut the Butternut Squash in half and take out the seeds. Then cut Butternut Squash and Eggplant into medium sized cubes. The reason you do not want to cut them too small is, because the bigger vegetables hold there form better when roasted at high heat. When you cut your veggies too small they get easily broken down and then you end up with a mush. We do not want a mush at least not in this case :).  After you are done cutting them up, throw them into a big bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Make sure all vegetables are well coated in the oil. Then season with salt and pepper to taste. I did 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and then nice touch of fresh Black Pepper.

Season and Roast the Red Pepper with the rest of the vegetables. I roasted the Pepper as a whole without cutting it into chunks. I only cut the tail of and took out all the seeds. I also put the 5 cloves of garlic into aluminum foil and roasted them as well. You can use raw garlic in the vinaigrette, but when you roast it you get a sweeter flavor.

Roast everything at 450F for about 40 to 45 minutes. Check your vegetables every 15 min and make sure to toss them around so they roast equally. I also added a little more oil during the cooking process over the vegetables. They came out crispier that way.

  

4) This is how they came out after 45 minutes.

                  



5) Once you take out the vegetables take the Red Bell Pepper and put it into a small bowl and cover it with a towel or aluminum foil. Let it cool for about 15 min. That way the skin will easily come off.

6) Cook the pasta according to the box directions. Cook it till Al Dante. I cooked mine for about 9 to 10 minutes. Make sure to salt the water very well. When the pasta is almost done reserve about 1 cup of the starchy water that the pasta has been cooking in. You will need it to refresh the pasta. When draining the pasta make sure to never wash  it with any water. You do not want to wash of the starch. If you do you will get a mushy sticky pasta and no one wants that :).

7) Cook Edamame according to the box direction as well. I cooked mine for 5 minutes. 

8) Once you drain the pasta put it back into the pot you were cooking it in or a big bowl and add a little bit of the starchy water that you saved earlier. Then add in the Edamame, Roasted vegetables, Mango slices, and a touch of extra virgin olive oil. You can also sprinkle some Cilantro or Parsley over the pasta. I didn't do it since I did not have the ingredients at hand.

              



For the dressing:

Put the following ingredients into the blender except the oil.

1 medium roasted Red Bell Pepper

5 raw or roasted Garlic cloves

1 raw or roasted Jalapenno pepper. I like this Pepper more when its roasted. But I forgot to do it. So I used it raw.

1/2 cup roasted almonds. If you do not like almonds you can skip this step.

1/2 shallot

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

1 tbsp sherry wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

Blend until everything comes together. Then add in 3 tbsp of good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil and blend until everything emulsifies. I also added 1/4 cup of water to make the dressing liquidier. But that's optional. You can do more or less. Depending on how you want your dressing to be. Mine was more on the chunkier side.

Once your dressing is ready season it with koser last and Pepper to taste and then pour over the pasta and vegetables. Whola and you are finally done. If you can let the pasta sit for a little bit before eating so all flavors come together, but if you will be as hungry as I was you will just attack this deliciousness right away.

Have fun and enjoy food. That's what it's here for :). I will post the salmon recipe in part 2 of this blog.