Chickpea Orzo Salad With Harissa-Roasted Eggplant

Served this for a dinner party and it was a big hit! Added a yellow heirloom tomato for color and a splash of rice vinegar. It tasted much better the next day so next will make a day ahead and just add walnuts right before serving.

Really good. Made a few medications based on comments (added mint, swapped walnuts for pistachios, and roasted the chickpeas). Definitely needs a dressing. I mixed up tahini, olive oil, lemon, garlic and water for a light dressing. A great flexible vegetarian dish.

Personally I feel this was missing a bit of acidity, so I squeezed half a lemon into some greens & added 1/2 a cup of cilantro to the eggplant orzo mix.

I love this dish and make it often enough that I’ve started putting whatever I have on hand in… halloumi instead of mozzarella, pear cous cous instead of orzo, gochujang when I’m out of harissa. It’s delicious. I always reduce pasta to 3 oz and don’t roast the peppers— just personal preference. I leave it in the fridge for an easy meal for the week.

Made D and L, Gavin and Colette. Added corn and asparagus. People loved it. OKbut not that special. Maybe too much going on

I really enjoyed this. I add a lot of Mina spicy harissa to the finished dish and I still don’t find it very spicy just flavorful (I am not someone who handles a lot of spice). Next time I would use half the orzo to make it less pasta salad with goodies and more goodie salad with pasta. Just my preference though!

I did not like this recipe. I thought it was just bland and unimpressive. I don't recommend serving over a bed of lettuce b/c I don't think the lettuce adds anything. If I made this again, I'd definitely do a good quality crumbled feta instead of mozz. I do think the toasted walnuts were the best part about this dish.

Quite bland as written (other than the spice level). I would’ve cooked the orzo in a harissa broth to incorporate more of the rich smoky flavors. I added some toum, Aleppo pepper, lemon zest, and parmesan, then served over arugula.

I have to admit that I didn't love this. I didn't have harissa so I used Sriracha instead. I definitely didn't add enough, which was my bad. If I do end up making it again I would add some acid and more spice, keep some of the peppers fresh for the crunch factor, and might use feta or another type of tangy cheese.

Absolutely loved this. I did make some tweaks. I added 4 peppers total, left 2 raw, grilled 2. I grilled the eggplant. Lastly I made a Tahini lemon dressing (1/4 cup Tahini, zest and juice 1 large lemon)

I never write comments but please hear me out. I chose this lovely recipe but all I have is a local Trader Joe’s so I had to make some substitutions I thought worked in my favor: -instead of orzo I used the orzo rice pilaf boxed stuff -instead of walnuts I used the toasted slivered almonds (and didn’t bother with the fresh herbs because of course TJs was out but also they may have clashed with the pilaf) This was phenomenal and I can’t wait to make it again.

it was hot and I didn't want to put the oven on, so I marinated the 2 sliced eggplants in the harissa/oil while I cooked the orzo. then grilled the eggplant and the red pepper on the grill. Even toasted walnuts on the grill. Combined everything as directed (using fresh oregano from garden), added marinated mozzarella balls plus a bit of the oil/spices from the marinate and served it over garden fresh spinach. It was SO good. the walnuts really add a great texture. I will make this again

My sister and I first made this recipe when we were on vacation with limited kitchen facilities. Since then, we’ve both come back to it again and again. I never sub ingredients because I think it’s delicious as written, although I may add a few extra cubes of mozzarella as a cooling balance to the harissa (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself it’s doing!)

I loved the harissa on the vegetables. Personally I would have picked perhaps a rice other than orzo and it could have benefitted from a sauce to blend everything together. All in all still good

This was surprising in its flavor and far simpler to make than it seemed at first blush. As I was putting it together, it seemed a bit hodge-podge-y, but it all somehow works. Wondering if another mild cheese might provide a bit more flavor than mozzarella. Anyhow, this will become a regular for us.