Greek Turkey Salad with a Lemon Orzo and Served With a Tzatziki Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
Toasted Lemon Orzo
serves 4-5
2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup orzo
1 3/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon lemon paste
1 cup fresh spinach
2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil to drizzle on the orzo
fresh pepper and salt to taste
Melt the butter until it starts to brown. Add the orzo and toast until it turns golden and watch it so it does not burn. Meanwhile boil the water with a little salt and when the orzo has finished toasting, put it in the boiling water....cover and reduce heat to low and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Put the spinach in at the very end and the heat and moisture will wilt the spinach quickly. Remove from pot and drizzle the oil on and place in fridge to chill
Greek Turkey Salad
serves 4 -5
1 1/2 pounds greenridge turkey cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon lemon paste
3 cloves minced garlic
5 cups romaine lettuce which i like to chop very small but not necessary
1 cup english or persian cucumber peeled and cut in half lengthwise and seeded
1/2 to 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives which you can either leave whole or cut in half
1/2 cup of chopped red onions
1/3 cup crumbled or chunked feta . i prefer crumbled or you can cut the chunked
pumkin seed oil to drizzle on the salad
ground pepper to taste
oregano to taste
Add all of the ingredients to a big bowl and let it chill until ready to toss
Tzatziki Cucumber Yogurt Sauce serves 4-6
1 medium english cucumber
1 tablespoon lemon paste
1 tablespoon pumpkin seed oil
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups greek yogurt
1/2 cup fresh dill chopped
2 scallions minced
Peel cucumber and cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Grate on the large holes of a box grater and squeeze out as much excess liquid in a dish towe as possible. This will prevent the dip from being very thin. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and refrigerate for about 1 hour to let ingredients blend.
Optional: garnish with olives and cucumber
Pita Bread serves 4-5
4 - 5 pieces pita bread
3-4 tablespoons lemon paste
dried oregano to sprinkle on bread
pumpkin seed oil to drizzle
preheat oven to 350
Put pita on a baking sheet and brush the lemon paste on each piece of pita. Sprinkle with oregano and put in oven for about 7-10 minutes. When you take it out.... drizzle the oil on top and cut in triagles. You can eat it plain or use the sauce to dip into.The lemon paste gives it a beautiful glaze.
When everything is ready to assemble... put the orzo on the bottom of the platter and
toss the turkey salad with the sauce but don't overload it so that others can put more on if they choose to.
Serve the additional sauce in a bowl on the side so your guests can dip their bread into it.
Roberta Fahey
Recipes are published just as they were submitted to the judges