Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette

Similar to my mom, I love sweet corn in the summer so when I saw this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats, I thought that it would be an awesome side-dish to my summer meal (which was Greek Chicken Pitas). This recipe served as a side dish for five people with plenty leftover.

This recipe was good in general, definitely a fresh summer recipe, but we felt like it didn't have quite enough flavor; if I were going to make it again, I would add more basil to the salad and/or chili powder and salt and pepper to the chili lime vinaigrette dressing.

Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette 

Ingredients for the Salad:

• 1 1/2 cup of orzo (uncooked)
• 2 ears of sweet corn
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes (halved)
• 1/2 of a small red onion (diced)
• 3 tbsp of fresh basil (chopped)

Ingredients for the Chili Lime Vinaigrette:

• 5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp of honey
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp of chili powder
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Grill the sweet corn in the husk; I would suggest following these directions for grilling. Soak the corn in the husk in water for 30 minutes to an hour prior to grilling. Put grill on high heat, and turn the corn frequently so that it gets evenly cooked, generally takes 15-20 minutes to be completely cooked. Once corn is cooked, let cool for about 5 minutes. 
2. Cook the orzo in a large pot with salt (use time on the package - generally between 7-10 minutes). Once cooked, drain and rinse under cold water, then set aside.
3. Cut corn off the cob, halve the tomatoes, diced the red onion, and chop the basil. 
4. Combine the orzo, sweet corn, tomatoes, onion, and basil in a large bowl. 
5. To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients (olive oil, honey, squeezed lime juice, chili powder, and salt and pepper) in a small/medium bowl and whisk until combined. 
6. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. 
7. Serve chilled or at room temperature. 

The orzo salad (minus the corn) and dressing before being combined.

The corn; note there is more than just the 2 corn husks that I used because I served corn-on-the-cob as a separate side.