I love Summer not only for sunny vacation days on the beach but also because in Summer I get to eat all of my favorite fruits and veggies. I usually eat much more fruits and veggies then meats but in Summer for inexperienced chef like me it’s so much easier to play with different fruits and veggies in combination with pasta and a little bit of white meat or fish to create wonderful, healthy and most importantly quick and easy dishes with not much time standing by the stove when it’s anyways super hot outside.
Today I am sharing one of my favorite full meal salads – Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese.
Whenever I eat in a restaurant I tend to order some kind of salad and it’s almost always with goat cheese which I adore so my friends already make fun of how predictable I am 
Still, I think you will enjoy this one.
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups orzo pasta
(rice-shaped pasta, I use Barilla but you can replace with some other tiny cut pasta)
3 cups chopped grilled chicken breast strips
1 1/2 cups trimmed arugula salad
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
Dressing:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese
Optional toppings:
Black olives
Cucumbers
Chives
PREPARATION:
Boil water for the pasta and cook for 8 minutes (I like it al dente) but you can also do 10. Chop all the veggie ingredients and fresh spices (you can also use dry if you don’t have fresh) and mix in large enough salad bowl to toss. Add pasta to pot when water boils and use these 8 minutes to chop the chicken and grill it until tender and it gets nice gold color, I usually grill it over the few drops of olive oil and then season to taste with salt, black pepper, fresh oregano and basil, if you want fuller flavor you can grill it over reduced butter as well. Toss the chicken with other salad ingredients when grilled.
Whisk vinegar, olive oil, salt and black pepper in separate bowl and spread it over the salad, toss again and top it with delicious crumbled goat cheese.
Bon appetite & Happy Sunday Beautiful!
Katarina Štimac, fashion blog – LaKatwalk
