An Exploration with Orzo

It's been a while, but tonight's recipe excursion seems to lack any of the drama implicit in the entertaining experience that was my pumpkin coconut milk soup. Although I do seem to already be on a subtle alliteration roll...

Life has been interesting. Since I last attempted cooking and blogging in a desperate attempt to maintain my sanity I quit my job. Leaving did far more for my sanity that cooking and blogging could have ever achieved. An added bonus was I landed a new job that is perfectly tailored to my neuroses. I may be the only person at the office who's not stressed, but I actually enjoy my job! Instead of spending my day approaching strangers, attempting to get them to open their wallets (and I swear I was not a prostitute), I now sit in a cozy overly air-conditioned office, at a computer, and pore over perfecting points of minutiae on customer orders. Similar to the feeling of satisfaction I get from occasionally hand-scrubbing my floors, the persistent attention to detail makes my strange little brain happy. So I'm not cooking/blogging for stress relief this time - I'm cooking/blogging because I actually have the time and energy!

That said, I have a tendency to notice free time in my life and eliminate it fairly quickly. I have about five million projects around the condo that I need to start and/or finish. My high school reunion is in a little over a week (eep!) and I'm finalizing details from 900 miles away. This week has also included a whirlwind of doctors' appointments while I was coordinating future travel plans with a group of friends. And somewhere in all of this, I decided it was time to start blogging again.

To ease my way back into a shaky control of written word, I looked for a "cooking with your eyes closed" recipe. Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Orzo is the remarkably simple recipe that ended up gracing our table tonight. Prep time is about 5 minutes, orzo cooking time is about 9 minutes, and although I made the pesto before I boiled the orzo, you have more than enough time while the pasta's cooking to do all of your non-water-boiling prep.

I stopped by the grocery store on the way home tonight and purchased two containers of basil. With contents from both packages chopped, I just met the half-cut measurement for the recipe. Basil and I are old friends. We've known each other for years and work together frequently making pizzas and caprese salad.

With the sun-dried tomatoes, I had a whole new experience! Although I've eaten sun-dried tomatoes in recipes, I've never cooked with them. Even opening the jar was a joy as their scent bounded out to happily greet my nostrils. Pungent with a hint of sweetness, the tomatoes got my mouth watering long before there was a chance of food on the table. Cutting them up was a bit like dealing with over-sized, oily raisins, but the smell was glorious.

The basil and sun-dried tomatoes spent a very brief period in this bowl before they were transferred to the food processing attachment on my Cuisinart stick blender (this was the same tool I used to puree my pumpkin soup - it's seriously my favorite kitchen gadget). The recipe calls for processing the basil and tomatoes together and then tossing it with the cooked pasta, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I didn't want to follow the recipe that way and blended the basil, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and olive oil together. Personally, I think I got a more uniform blend and that it ensured that all of the seasoning was evenly distributed through the pasta when it was stirred in.

Oh yeah! I forgot to mention the pasta - if you're not familiar with orzo, it's the pasta that looks like rice but isn't. This is not to be confused with risotto which is a rice that cooks up to a pasta-like texture. Although the recipe calls for 2 cups of uncooked orzo, I found that the box I got from the grocery store contained 2-1/4 cups. Knowing that I was never going to cook 1/4 cup orzo, I made the entire box.

2-1/4 cups uncooked orzo

Nine minutes later, the orzo was cooked, drained, and ready to be mixed with the "pesto."

The basil/tomato mix distributed nicely throughout the pasta, but I found myself wishing that I had increased the pesto quantities slightly to match the extra quarter cup of pasta. Sprinkling the grated parmesan cheese on top, dinner was ready. We had bowls for John, Tiff, and me with enough left over to feed all three of us again.

Overall, a really quick recipe. This will be a permanent addition to my dinner repertoire, but I'll make some changes in the future.

Change 1: More sun-dried tomatoes. I went easy on them this time because they can be overwhelming if you use too many. There is a happy medium, but I haven't reached it yet. I'm just going to have to keep making and eating until I perfect that ratio.

Change 2: Garlic. Admittedly, I am a garlic fiend. This dish is delicious without garlic and adding a couple cloves would overwhelm the fresh taste of the basil and the tang of the tomatoes. I'd probably start with a half a clove minced just for really subtle flavor. If that wasn't noticeable enough, I might mince a whole clove for the dish, but I don't think I'd go beyond that point.

Change 3: More salt. The recipe called for a half teaspoon. I do love my salt almost as much as I love my garlic, but I like to try to follow recipe proportions the first time I'm making a recipe. This could use 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of salt instead of just a half.

Change 4: This change will increase prep and cooking time and is not necessary to make the meal delicious, but I think it adds a nice variation - sauteed vegetables. I think the vegetables need to be fairly light and have a "green" flavor to work with the other flavors in the recipe. As I was eating my dinner, I was thinking how well little sauteed cubes of zucchini would taste with the pasta. I think freshly sauteed or grilled asparagus spears would also be awesome. 

Okay, world. Post one of my return to food blogging is complete. I plan on updating at least weekly - possibly bi-weekly. If you have any recipes you think I should try, please feel free to send them my way!

Edit 8/5/11:
The recipe mentions that this dish can be served hot or cold. To experiment with that, I brought leftovers for lunch today.

It's a perfect summer pasta salad when chilled. It also helped me determine Change 5: add pancetta. Not big chunks, not pureed nothingness. But little 1/8" square pieces of pancetta would be an amazing addition of flavor and texture.