Orzo-Salad Stuffed Tomatoes

Once again, little finger food snacks… my fave 🙂  This is incredibly simple… just orzo salad stuffed into little tomatoes.  Simple, yes, but even better- you can pick them up and eat them with your fingers… best kind of snack in my opinion!  This orzo salad is yummy on it’s own- I make it a lot as a side to accompany main dishes like lamb or chicken- it’s light, flavorful, and easy.  Just some sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, scallions (or green onions/spring onions), and crushed red pepper flakes adds enough zing to make a tasty orzo side; stuffing it inside little tomatoes makes it a wee more interesting and fun to eat!

If you wanted to make this a main dish, you easily could by using large tomatoes, but for a quick little bite, pick out some smaller little ‘maters perfect for finger food eating.

These were from my CSA… if you’re looking for good tomatoes at the store, tomatoes-on-the-vine, cluster tomatoes, or other sweet round tomatoes would be perfect!  I would stay away from Romas if possible, just because they’re not usually super sweet or juicy- which you want for this.  You want a soft tomato that you can easily scoop the insides out of…

Making tomato cups is super easy… and they can be stuffed with so many things!

Did I mention this only takes about 15 minutes to make??!

a pile of fresh ripe round tomatoes (10 small, or 5 large)

1/2 cup uncooked orzo, 1 cup when cooked

3 tbsp feta cheese
3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes
3 tbsp chopped scallions/green onions

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper, to taste (somewhere between 1/8 tsp and 1/4 tsp, depending on preference)

To cook orzo, boil some water with a teensy salt (about 1/8 tsp), add orzo, and

boil for about 8-10 minutes

Meanwhile, begin prepping tomatoes…

Clean the little guys well

Using a small (preferably perforated) knife, carve a hole on the top of each tomato

Then cut out insides- seeds and flesh- to make little cups

If you have a grapefruit spoon by chance, they work marvelously for this!

If tomatoes don’t sit upright naturally, cut a teeny bit off the bottoms to allow them to sit flat

Make sure all tomatoes are empty- dump out any juices, seeds, or whatever may be left…

Set aside

Chop scallions…

Chop sun dried tomatoes

(I leave juices on cutting bard and pour them in orzo with tomatoes- it adds flavor!

Crumble feta- you want equal amounts of each ingredient

By now, orzo should be done…

Drain, but to not rinse the noodles

(Like pasta, they have starches on them that help sauces to stick)

Dump orzo in a bowl… cool slightly so feta does not completely melt- some softening

is fine, but you want chunks of feta, too 🙂

Add feta, scallions, and sun dried tomatoes

Stir to mix

Add crushed red pepper flakes

Add salt and pepper, to taste

Stir, taste for seasonings, and adjust as wanted

Using your spoon, carefully scoop orzo mixture into tomatoes

Voila… done!

Pick up with fingers and dig in!