Sun-Dried Tomato and Herbed/Cheesed Baked Orzo |
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Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 20 Minutes |
Ready In: 35 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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This is a wonderful infusion of sweet sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, shallots and fresh herbs and cheese with wonderful orzo, baked to perfection with a simple parmesan/bread crumb topping. I saw a version of this on The Food Netwook, and adapted it to suit what I had in my pantry and it turned out very flavorful. Ingredients:
1 cup orzo pasta |
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil |
1 tablespoon unsalted butter |
salt and pepper |
2 medium sized shallots, finely minced |
1 cup italian seasoned breadcrumbs |
butter (to dot) |
1 -2 garlic clove (more or less to taste, depending on how much you like garlic) |
2 cups chicken stock (room temp or simmering,low sodium) or 2 cups broth (room temp or simmering,low sodium) |
1/2 cup cream |
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomato |
1/4 cup minced fresh basil |
1/4 cup mined fresh italian parsley |
1/2 cup grated fontina cheese |
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese (divided, regular parmesan can be substituted) |
Directions:
1. Heat olive oil and butter over medium/high heat in saucepan til hot. Add shallots and cook til translucent, but not brown. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Cook 1 minute more, stirring and moving mixture around constantly. Add garlic, cooking one minute more. Be careful at this point not to burn garlic or all will be ruined.
2. Add 1 cup orzo to saucepan, constantly stirring and toasting the pasta for 1 to 2 minutes. Add chicken broth, and crank heat up to high to bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper for seasoning, being careful not to over-salt, as parmesano reggiano has a high salt content. When boil is reached, cover and reduce to simmer and cover til most of liquid is absorbed. You want SOME liquid to remain.
3. Transfer to a bowl. Add fontina cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan, basil and parsley. Add cream. Stir well. Transfer to 2-quart buttered/greased ramekin or equivalent and cover the top with the mixture of Italian seasoned bread crumbs and remaining 1/4 cup reggiano cheese.
4. Dot top with bits of butter and bake in 375 oven for approximately 30 minutes.
5. Serve immediately, grating more reggiano over dish if desired.
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