I love Orzo. It's a small, rice-shaped pasta with endless uses and a wonderfully fast cooking time. You can throw it in soups, add butter and Parmesan, use it as a side dish with various vegetables, or even base a main dish on it. Orzo is on my list of "must haves" for a complete pantry.
Orzo is great for kitchen experimentation (as I like to call dinner when I haven't been grocery shopping in a week). I rely on it for fast meals with flexible ingredient lists. Last week when I was in a rush to make dinner I grabbed a trusty bag of Orzo and whatever else I had and made:
Orzo with sausage and leeks
1 lb orzo
1 bunch leeks, coarsely chopped (wash well - leeks hide dirt!)
1 lb Italian breakfast sausage
garlic
12 oz mushrooms, sliced
sage, salt, pepper
splash of sherry
Cook Orzo according to package directions while you prepare the leeks and sausage part. In a large skillet, fry sausage. Drain excess fat. Add leeks; stir and cook. Add mushrooms; stir and cook. When almost soft, add cherry, salt, pepper, and sage (about 1 tsp) to taste. Add water if the mixture starts to stick. Stir in drained Orzo; heat well.
If you want you can add a smidge of provolone to the top. My hubby did this - I didn't like it.
YUM. Leeks in anything = perfection!
For some strange reason my hubby doesn't like Orzo. I on the other hand love it! I have a recipe I love to make during the summer that involves feta, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and I forget what else.
ReplyDeleteAs for the marathon.... I'm thinking maybe you should ask if you can do the half? I'd be a little leary of doing the full after being as sick as you were recently. Sucks to have gotten all that training in earlier and not do it, but marathons are demanding and even when you are fully trained they take their toll on you.