Spring Pea Orzo

The key to this crowd-pleasing salad is to toss the warm pasta with the dressing so the orzo soaks up flavor. Make it up to two days ahead, and serve any leftovers with ham

Ingredients:

• 1 lemon
• 8 ounces uncooked orzo pasta
• 1/4 cup minced shallot or red onion
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil $
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups cooked fresh or frozen peas
• 1 cup snow peas or sugar snap peas, blanched and chopped
• 1 cup assorted chopped fresh herbs (such as mint, chives, and parsley)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preparation

1. 1. Grate zest from lemon to equal 2 tsp. Cut lemon in half; squeeze juice from lemon to equal 1/2 cup.
2. 2. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Whisk together shallots, next 4 ingredients, and lemon juice. Toss together pasta and shallot mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 1 to 48 hours.
3. 3. Toss together pasta, peas, snow peas, next 2 ingredients, and lemon zest just before serving. Add salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice to taste.