Fall Poetry: Wild Peach Orzo Salad

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From Blossoms

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches. 

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat. 

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach. 

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

- Li-Young Lee

I ordered three bushels of peaches through my magical fruit lady a few weeks ago, and when they came and I removed the lids, you should have seen these peaches!!! They were the size of a baby's head. I swear to you, I have never seen peaches as big as some of these. Now why would I order that many peaches? Let me think... Peach pie, peach preserves, home bottled peaches, frozen peaches for winter smoothies, OH and Wild Peach Orzo Salad.

My Mother in Law (An avid foodie, cooking class instructor, bakery owner, you get the picture...) served this at her wedding, and I have loved it ever since. It is so fresh and lovely. It would be an amazing side dish for pork loin. Who am I kidding, it would be a great side dish for dirt. It is seriously so good. And I eat it on it's own as a main dish. So here you go!

Wild Peach Orzo Salad
Courtesy of my MIL, with a few modifications. We can't all have raspberry vinegar on hand, Martha Stewart!!! (Also, I didn't use the peach salsa. Because seriously? Who has that? Oh, my MIL does... ok)

1 16 oz. container Orzo pasta, cooked according to package instructions
3 Peaches, chopped
6 Green onions, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1/2 C chopped Pecans
1/2 C Cilantro, chopped
1 C Peach Salsa
1 Lemon, Juice and Zest
2 TBSP Honey
1/3 C Olive Oil
1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tsp. Salt
Pepper to taste

Cool your cooked orzo, whisk the last 6 ingredients together in a bowl, toss everything else in there together and mix it all up! 

As a side note,  a small little baby in this household sacrificed her thumbnail for this salad. Her older sister slammed the sliding door on it while Mom was out picking citrus off the tree. But several hours and one hospital trip later, I gave this to her for dinner and she thought it was totally worth it. Also, in running her to the hospital, I may have left out the pecans. Oh well, still delicious.

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StoneGable
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