Summer Orzo

I have a menu full of wonderful foods to share lately. This one I was pleasantly surprised with. Okay, more than a little pleasantly surprised....I pretty much licked my plate clean (which, finishing everything on my plate is truly a rare occurrence for me, I almost always leave something. I'm not really the plate licking type.) I LOVED this. It was so summery and colorful and flavorful.

The whole title for this one is "Orzo with grilled shrimp, summer vegetables and pesto vinaigrette" ......I shortened it a little to "Summer Orzo" .....the recipes that require longer than a minute pronounce or clarify exactly what's in them, exhaust me!

Ingredients :

1 1/2 cups of orzo (it's a pasta not a rice, which is what I thought it was and was extremely frustrated at the rice section at the grocery store)

6 1/2 table spoon extra virgin olive oil (you don't have to use extra virgin if you don't like it)

4tablespoons red wine vinegar (it's important to use this, the taste of it really brings out other flavors)

2 medium zucchini cut lengthwise into four slices

1 yellow pepper quartered

1 pound uncooked shrimp ( I used cooked, because it's what I had....)

2 medium tomatoes diced

1/2 cup thinly sliced basil

3 tablespoon purchased pesto (I forgot to buy this and just made some with basil, parsley, lime juice, Parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil.....it turned out really well)

2 table spoons fresh lime juice

1 8 ounce ball of mozzarella cheese diced (important, don't put block mozz in there, it won't be nearly as good)

Cook orzo until it puffs up and tastes tender. Drain and add a tablespoon of oil and set aside. Mix 2 tablespoon of oil and 2 tablespoons of vinegar together in small bowl. Coat the pieces of zucchini and pepper. Grill these until they have little black stripes on them. Remove from grill and dice. Mix pesto, remainder of oil (3 1/2 tablespoons), lime juice, and remainder of vinegar (2 tablespoons) together. coat shrimp with 2 tablespoons of this mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill shrimp on each side for about three minutes. (I actually laid tin foil down on the grill surface and cooked them right on top, then I just picked it all up and added it to the orzo.) Combine orzo, shrimp, diced tomatoes, diced cheese, chopped zucchini and pepper, basil and remaining and pesto vinaigrette. Toss to coat everything. Garnish with extra basil. Enjoy!!!!