A rice-looking pasta which cooks up quickly - in about half the time as rice. This method is kinda like risotto. Sometimes we add a small chunk of butter and some grated Pecorino-Romano or Parmesan. Try it with my Beef Stew recipe.

2 Tbs. butter (I use only non-salted)
1/4 cup minced onion or shallots
1-2 cloves minced garlic - (of course, more if you like)
2 cups of orzo
1 bay leaf
4 cups of chicken broth, heated

1) Melt the butter in a large skillet; stir in the onion or shallots and garlic and cook slowly for about 5 minutes. Be careful to not brown it.

2) Stir in the orzo and keep stirring, cooking briefly - it will become goldenish colored.

3) Add only 2 cups of the broth and the bay leaf; simmer this uncovered unitil almost all of the liquid has been absorbed - this takes 3 - 5 minutes.

4) Add the remaining broth - cover and simmer for about 8 minutes longer - until most of the broth has disappeared.

5) Season to your liking with salt and pepper.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 10:48 am and is filed under Macaroni / Pasta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.