Orzo with Mushrooms

paula

13 years ago

The plan was to make mushroom risotto…I had all the ingredients ready to go. However, my family was already asking how much longer until we were going to eat and it was getting late. Thus, I decided to ditch the arborio rice and grabbed the orzo pasta instead. After all, it cooked in half the time and it still looked like rice…I thought it was worth a shot. If it did not work out, there was pizza in the freezer.

It turned out great…a nice texture and a really good flavor. The pizza was saved for another day.

Recipe: Orzo with Mushrooms

Ingredients

olive oil
butter
6 – 10 oz. mushrooms
1 sm. onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. dry orzo pasta
40 oz. no salt added chicken or vegetable stock
salt, to taste
1 Tbsp. parsley, chopped
grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Clean fresh mushrooms with a damp cloth then cut them into thick slices.
Put stock in a saucepan to simmer.
Heat about 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add sliced mushrooms and cook until tender.
Remove mushrooms and set aside until later.
Add onion and garlic to remaining oil/butter and cook until onion is translucent.
Add more butter and/or oil, if needed.
Add dry pasta to skillet and stir until lightly toasted or golden.
Add 1/2 c. of warmed stock and stir until absorbed.
Once absorbed, add another 1/2 c. of stock stirring until absorbed.
Add mushrooms back to skillet.
Add salt, to taste.
Continue adding stock 1/2 c. at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Cook until pasta reaches desired tenderness; adding more stock as needed.
Add parsley near end of cooking.
Taste for seasoning.
Serve warm with cheese.

The type of mushrooms used does not really matter for this recipe. You can even use dried or canned mushrooms. However, you may need to adjust the cooking time and method for the mushrooms depending on what you use.