Spinach & Orzo Summer Salad with Stone Fruit & Blueberry-Thyme Vinaigrette is simple, satisfying, and perfect for these blazing August days!
I’ll be dreaming about this baby come February!
Ciao Chow Bambina has a whole lotta color coming your way! With every fruit that I had planned to include in this salad, an unexpected beauty would catch my eye from the next bushel, making it impossible to leave without, and basically doubling the size and rainbow effect of this dish!
This salad, absolutely bursting with fresh seasonal summertime flavor, is everything we want in our August cooking!
Before we know it, we’ll be (happily) loading our carts with ingredients to make this, this and this. So, while the getting is good – all the fresh summer fruits and veggies need to be in our carts and on our plates!
So simple to assemble!
- Who can resist butter and sugar corn in all its tender sweetness? In a pat of butter, toast up sugary kernels cut from the cob. (I used left over corn from dinner the night before.)
- After combining baby spinach with cooked orzo, sliced peaches, halved sweet cherries, blueberries and toasted walnuts, add the toasted corn and a healthy scattering of crumbled feta.
Now – as show-stopping as this salad is – it is the Blueberry-Thyme Vinaigrette that really brings it home!
In a blender you’ll combine 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, 6 Tbsp. olive oil, 4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and fresh thyme. So easy, right? And look at that color! My childhood bedroom was covered in flowers this shade of berry… That was random, wasn’t it? I haven’t thought about that wallpaper in a million years! Thanks for obliging! 😉
Now toss and munch!
I could eat this everyday!
An orchard in a bowl….
Who doesn’t want that?
Buon Appetito!
Print
Spinach & Orzo Summer Salad with Stone Fruit & Blueberry-Thyme Vinaigrette
- Category: Salad
Description
Spinach & Orzo Summer Salad with Stone Fruit & Blueberry-Thyme Vinaigrette is simple, satisfying, and perfect for these blazing August days!
Ingredients
- Salad
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 4 ears fresh corn kernels (2 cups)
- 2 cups toasted walnuts
- 2 – 3 cups cooked orzo
- 8 oz. fresh baby spinach
- 2 peaches, sliced
- 2 cups bing cherries, pitted and sliced in half
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 5 oz. crumbled feta
- Blueberry-Thyme Vinaigrette
- 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
- 6 Tbsp. olive oil
- 4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- Salt & black pepper, to taste
- 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan, melt the butter and add the corn. Cook over medium heat until the kernels begin to release their aroma and begin to brown.
- Remove corn to a small bowl and set aside.
- In the same pan, add the walnuts. Shake in the pan until their nutty fragrance releases. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In the meantime, prepare the vinaigrette. Add the blueberries, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and thyme to a blender. Pulse until fully combined.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the spinach, cooked orzo, peaches, cherries, 1/2 cup blueberries, and walnuts. Give it a nice toss.
- Add the corn, feta and dressing right before serving.
- Enjoy!
What’s your favorite summertime salad? I’d love to know!
This salad looks so beautiful and vibrant, Annie. I am loving the flavours and gorgeous colour 🙂
So pleasing….for the eyes and the taste buds! Thanks, friend!
This sounds so good! I love the flavors you have in the dressing!
Thanks, Kevin! It’s a yummy one!! 🙂
Gosh those beautiful and vibrant shots! I can eat this salad for a whole week-every single day, without a complain! Pinning it, <3
Yep! Me too, my friend! Thank you!
This is my dream salad! All of that fruit, walnuts and feta! What a delicious combo. And I love a good homemade vinaigrette!
It’s truly a delicious combination! Thank you, friend!
What a farmers market, and vibrant salad, Annie! All in one bowl! You know I’m an orzo fan, but pair it with all this goodness and a blueberry dressing? I’m SO in!
These farmers’ market finds marry beautifully! Thanks, friend!
You are so right…we need to enjoy all the summer’s bounty while we can! Right now everything is booming in my garden! This salad looks so amazing and so yummy!
I bet your garden is gorgeous! Thank you, friend!
I saw this salad on IG and I just fell for it – so pretty, colorful and full of sweet summer fruit – and that dressing- yum! Love that you’ve added orzo in there – orzo really can work with any salad. What a delicious summer salad!
I tend to combine spinach and orzo for salad often. The orzo gives it some heft. And who doesn’t love it? Thanks, my friend!
I want that! I would be dreaming about this salad, too, from now on! Absolutely love colorful food and this gorgeous salad has color, taste, texture taken to the next level!
It is pret-ty dreamy! The flavors just explode off the plate! Along with the colors!! Thanks, Nicoletta!
Absolutely stunning! Love every little bit of this salad 🙂 A great way to celebrate the season (and that vinaigrette sounds awesome!)
Thank you, Jennifer! 🙂
This salad is nothing short of an ode to summer! A beautiful blend of so many summer flavors that I love – going to make this now and I’ll be dreaming of it come February too!
Ahhh – yes! Enjoy, my friend! 🙂
Just got home from the pool and it is still so hot outside. This salad seems like the perfect solution for light dinner when you don’t feel like cooking. I am sure Chris can handle boiling some water for me, lol and then I’ll make it.
Pinned!
Chris would definitely do that for you! And it’ll be worth it! Thanks, friend!
This is such a gorgeous salad, Annie! It totally gives new meaning to the saying – eat the rainbow! This is SUCH a feast for the eyes!! AND the tastebuds! I’m loving all the fresh seasonal ingredients and flavors! Plus that blueberry vinaigrette sounds to die for delish! Pinning! Cheers!
Yep! We could eat this rainbow every day!! Thank you, my friend! 🙂
That dressing! I’d go for wallpaper with flowers that color too–it’s gorgeous! This is everything I want in a summer salad and I’d eat the entire thing myself, no problem 🙂 Have a great weekend, Annie!
So very easy to eat the entire bowl in one sitting! Thank you, friend!
What a beauty of a summer salad Annie! And that vinaigrette sounds amazing! Perfect for one of my girlfriends luncheons! Hope you have an awesome weekend!
This would be the perfect meal for you and your girlfriends! Thanks, friend!
What a beautiful, colourful salad! Love how you gave this one some heft with the orzo. And that vinaigrette is not only pretty to look at but I bet is tastes delish! Pinned! Wallpaper, you say? You know that is totally coming back 😉 ?? Have a wonderful weekend, my friend! XOXO
I love spinach and orzo in a salad together! And you’re right….this vinaigrette is the bomb! Thank you, my friend! Happy weekend! XOXO