creamy garlic spinach orzo

So we found this enormous bag of fresh spinach in a cheapo Produce Junction market, maybe 4 pounds, and cooked it up into a whole lot of cooked spinach that we stashed in the fridge for later use. Its turn came and bob decided to match it with farro and beans but needed some cooperating ingredients to complete the dish. Web searching on "orzo spinach" turns up a bunch of creamy garlic spinach orzo recipes that highly overlap each other. Garlic, onion, broth, some added milk or heavy cream, some just parmigiano, one a touch of red pepper. And of course salt and pepper. We had some left over black beans in the fridge so they would be the protein dominated ingredient (a can of mixed bean types was the alternative left unchosen). bob's addition to round out the dish to be a bit more nutritionally complete.

So one starts this like a typical "farrotto" sauteeing onion in olive oil, then some generous pressed garlic (the recipe title, remember?) and toss in the farro to toast it a bit before adding some hot broth and the milk or cream which is needed for the extra creaminess. We had the already cooked spinach and a lot more of it than these other recipes, which only toss in two cups of packed leaves. And the beans. And a touch of red pepper flakes always punches up the flavor a bit, together with ani's suggested lemon zest for a similar reason.

The result was really tasty, we were in total agreement! By exaggerating the spinach quantity we reduced the percentage per volume ratio of the carbs, even though we only use whole wheat orzo, sometimes less is more.

ingredients

1 T olive oil

2 T butter

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic minced

1 c uncooked whole wheat orzo pasta

salt & pepper to taste

a light touch of red pepper flakes

2 1/2 c chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream (or 2 c broth and 1 c milk to lighten it up)

2 c (packed) fresh baby spinach (we used 2 c cooked spinach)

1 can beans (we uad 1/2 can black beans, but would have tossed in a can of mixed beans)

1/2 c freshly grated parmigiano cheese (plus more for each serving)

instructions

1. Precook a big 2 pound bag of fresh spinach for our version. 
2. Saute the onion in the oil and butter in a big nonstick pot for a few minutes, then the garlic for a minute, then toss in the orzo and stir that around for a minute or two or three. This adds flavor to this tiny pasta shape which sucks it up from the pot stuff already present by this time. Add in the red pepper flakes and some salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile heat up your tea pot to have enough boiling water to add to your broth powder/whatever, and add it to the pot with your heavy cream/milk and simmer for 15 minutes or so checking the pasta for losing that chewy texture. Add more boiling water if needed to continue cooking and leave the final version creamy.
4. Add in the beans and spinach and stir around so they heat up a few minutes (cook down if fresh spinach).
5. Remove from the neat, adjust spices if you know how at this point and stir in the cheese. Then let sit covered for 5 minutes to relax.
6. Then serve with additional freshly graded parmigiano to each serving.

notes

1. Ani sort of followed this recipe roughly: https://www.saltandlavender.com/creamy-garlic-spinach-orzo/ after bob's search.
2. Lemon and mushrooms are have affinities for this recipe, and farro is an alternative carb component. In fact the first version of this recipe had "farro" everywhere "orzo" should be due to a short circuit in bob's brain which stores these two food items in adjacent memory bins.
3. Whole Foods stopped carrying whole wheat orzo, must be Jeff Bezos's fault. Wegman's still comes through for us.
4. Produce Junction is a local tri-state (PA, DE, NJ) chain of very economical and more ethnic produce items. bob spotted 4 types of malanga there.
5. Illustrations available.

update 2021

So we spot this email from Eating Well, a cooking mag we used to impulse buy last century, with some quick recipes, among them 15-Minute Salmon & Creamy Orzo with Spinach & Mushrooms. So we decide to try it minus the salmon for a quick weeknight dinner. We never get enough orzo meals for some reason, so the email met receptive eyes among all the junk that flows into bob's email box, and we decided to act quickly. However, starting to create a new recipe, this old one popped up, very similar. How quick we forget. Let's see how the new one works out.

ingredients

1 ¾ c low-sodium chicken broth
¼ c heavy cream [we used half and half]
1 t garlic powder
½ t salt, divided
⅛ t ground pepper plus ¼ teaspoon, divided
1 ½ c sliced mushrooms
1 c whole-wheat orzo
4 c lightly packed baby spinach
2 t extra-virgin olive oil
1 ¼ lbs center-cut salmon, cut into 4 portions [omitted]

instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
2. Stir broth, cream, garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper together in a large skillet. Add mushrooms and orzo, cover and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. Stir in spinach, reduce heat to maintain a lively simmer, cover and cook until the orzo is tender and the sauce has reduced and thickened, 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, brush oil on both sides of salmon pieces. Sprinkle with the remaining ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and roast until just cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes. Serve the salmon with the orzo. Unless you bypass the fish like we did.

notes

1. This was pretty good but a bit bland. Could use the BAM factor with a spice makeover.