*** Doesn't it look great ***
Here's my favorite (at the moment) way to cook orzo
Ingredients:
- 1 cup orzo
- 2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1-2 cups broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
- olive oil
- a few cloves of minced/mashed garlic
- splash of white wine
- Parmesan cheese
Directions:
- Bring pot of water to boil and add in orzo - to add flavor and prevent an overflowing pot, add in some salt and a pat of butter
- After pasta has been boiling for a couple of minutes, add in the carrots.
- When pasta is almost done, add in the broccoli (keeps it from getting overcooked and mushy), strain the pasta, and reserve about a cup of the pasta water, set aside pasta and water until needed
- Start on the sauce, in a separate pan, after the carrots have been cooking for a couple of minutes
- Heat the olive oil - when hot, add in the garlic and if desired, some minced onion and saute until lightly browned and fragrant
- Add the white wine (substitute it with chicken broth if you don't have any) and simmer until slightly reduced
- Add about half of the pasta water and bring to a boil
- Stir pasta/veggie mix into the sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan and gently stir; keep sprinkling with Parmesan and stirring until it has enough for your taste
- To make it look pretty - stir in some fresh chopped parsley at the end and/or top it with a sprig of parsley
*** Don't worry, most of my dishes don't look this pretty ***
And now for the Mushroom "Pork"
I found a recipe, looked yummy, called for pork, didn't have any, used chicken instead because that's what was in the freezer. But it was really tasty, nice and moist, and the only things I'd change would be to leave out the salt, and add a bit of milk to the cream soup to make it creamier
Ingredients:
- 2 pork chops or chicken breasts
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- handful of mushrooms, finely chopped
- 3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used the healthy choice, reduced fat kind)
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a medium sized skillet (that has a lid), saute the onion in oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute some more until the mushrooms have released their liquid. Remove the onion-mushroom mixture from the pan and set aside.
- Add some more oil to the pan and brown the meat on both sides, seasoning with salt, pepper, and other herbs if desired - Go easy on the salt, the cream soup has quite a bit and you'll end up with a slightly salty dish if you're not careful
- Mix the cream soup, milk, and onion-mushroom mixture together and pour over the meat.
- Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20-30 minutes until meat is done
- Serve with your choice of pasta, rice, or potatoes
*** Goes well with asparagus too ***
