Greek Orzo Salad

Hello Folks! Welcome to my blog....thought I might try my hand at this. To be honest, I think I just need a place to post other than facebook. I like the idea of having "my stuff" in one place, rather than mish-mashed along with all of the other stuff.

I will use this blog as a place to show you what I'm up to, Chef-wise...which is my life and my love.

Without further adieu.....

Yesterday I made Orzo Salad. It's actually the second time I've made it, but this time I tweaked it. It was for my Sister-in-law's baby shower, and it was a HIT! In fact, the old church ladies made me write the recipe down, they made copies of it and passed it around the room. I felt very honored when one of them said, "I'm going to make this for church tomorrow." You know as well as I do, old ladies are funny about food. Not funny ha ha, more like funny - picky.

Here's the recipe:
1 lb of Orzo (cooked al dente')
1 Cucumber, diced
1 pint Cherry Tomatoes, sliced
3 Green Onions, sliced thin
1 8oz package of Feta Cheese, crumbled
1 package of Pine Nuts
3 T. Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
1/4 c. White Wine Vinegar
1/4 c. Fresh Dill, Minced
1/2 c. Olive Oil

Combine: Cucumber, Tomatoes, Green Onions, Feta, Pine Nuts. Add Cooled Orzo and Fold. In a separate bowl, whisk the dijon, dill and vinegar together completely.
Drizzle the olive oil slowly while continuing to whisk. Pour over the Salad and mix, chill.

And since I am a Student Chef, thought I might use this blog to lay some knowledge.

The term for what happens when you drizzle that Olive Oil into the Vinegar/Mustard/Dill mixture is EMULSION. Emulsion, as you may recall from Chemistry, is defined as a mixture of two liquids that would not normally mix or a mixture of two immiscible liquids. An emulsion contains tiny particles of one liquid suspended in another.

A classic example of an emulsion is oil and water when mixed slowly (by drizzling) under vigorous stirring. However, when the agitation is stopped, the two liquids separate and the emulsion breaks down. This is an example of an "unstable emulsion".

Stable emulsions can be formed from two immiscible liquids when an emulsifier or an emulsifying agent is used. In this case, the emulsifying agent is the Dijon Mustard. Other examples of emulsifying agents are egg yolks and honey. Both Mayonnaise and Hollandaise Sauce are oil-in-water emulsions that are stabilized with egg yolk.

That's all for my first blog, I hope you enjoy!

E