Orzo pasta salad

I remember making this many many moons ago and thinking it was the best pasta salad ever, and to be fair to Jamie Oliver it's exactly what he called it, his best pasta salad ever. Instead of the small shell pasta we used orzo pasta, which worked perfectly.

Ingredients

300 g orzo pasta

3 cloves garlic

250g yellow cherry tomatoes

250g red cherry tomatoes

10 pitted black olives

2 tbsp fresh chives

20g fresh basil

½ cucumber

4 tablespoons white wine vinegar 

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

Method

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt then put in the orzo pasta and the whole cloves of garlic. Boil until the pasta is al dente, then drain and run under cold water to cool. 

Remove the garlic, a set aside. 

Cut all the tomatoes in half and squeeze out the seeds, sieve over a bowl. Keep the tomato water to one side. Also cut the half cucumber in half, lengthways, and scoop out the seeds and softer flesh with a spoon. 

Next chop the tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, chives and basil into pieces no large than the orzo pasta. 

Add all the pasta and the vegetables together in a large bowl.

Squeeze out the garlic out of their skins and crush with the back of a knife. Add it to the tomato water. Pour in the white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil and mix thoroughly to create a dressing.

Pour it over the pasta and chopped veg. Add a pinch of salt & pepper to season, to taste.