Recipe Orzo Salad with Broad Beans, Preserved Lemon & Tarragon

Morning Glory

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This pasta salad is perfectly portable with no danger of the pasta going ‘clumpy’. The aromatic tarragon adds a twist of anise flavour to the earthy taste of broad beans. The preserved lemon and lots of lemon zest keeps this salad feeling fresh and lively. Adding a few chilli flakes looks pretty and adds a little spiciness. There is a negligible amount of oil in the salad which keeps the calorie count down but you could add a little olive oil if you really wanted. I’m using American cup measures here as it seems much more straightforward for this recipe.

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Ingredients (serves 2)
1 cup cooked orzo, drained but not rinsed
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
A few pinches of sugar
A splash of wine or cider vinegar
1 tbsp of finely chopped preserved lemon
1/2 cup cooked, skinned broad beans
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp walnut oil
Chilli flakes (to taste)
Pinch of dried tarragon
Salt to taste

Method
  1. Mix together the chopped red onion, sugar and vinegar. Leave to marinate for at least an hour. The longer you leave it, the ‘pinker’ it will become!
  2. For preference, assemble the salad whilst the orzo is still warm. It will absorb more flavour.
  3. To assemble the salad, mix together the orzo, beans, red onion, preserved lemon, lemon zest, walnut oil, tarragon and chilli flakes. Add salt to taste.
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[Edit: recipe amended in the light of the first few post below.]
 
Last edited:
1 cup cooked orzo, drained but not rinsed
....
1 small preserved lemon, finely chopped
This is quite a proportion of pasta to preserved lemon, but I can see where it would ensure that you don't miss the flavor. I have a jar of preserved limes that i keep forgetting about, so thank you for giving me an idea of how to use them!
 
This is quite a proportion of pasta to preserved lemon, but I can see where it would ensure that you don't miss the flavor. I have a jar of preserved limes that i keep forgetting about, so thank you for giving me an idea of how to use them!

Do you think its a large proportion? You could be right (this is a cooked pasta measure) but the taste seemed to come through. I'm sure adding more would be OK though!
 
Yes. I can see a large lemon filling an entire cup measure. Even a small one would be about half the volume.

Ah - I see now. These are small preserved lemons which I bought. They are really small. I should have given the amount as a measure. I just ran off and hurriedly chopped one up and it made exactly 1 tbsp of chopped lemon. They are about 1 inch to 1 and a half inches diameter.

I'll amend the recipe! Thanks!
 
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