whole wheat orzo with broccoli

ani picked up a couple small (cheap) catfish filets, bob had already brought home enough broccoli for really generous portions for two, veggies are good. That left the carb to complete the meal. Whole wheat orzo suggested itself. There are a few parallel operations required to make this dish come together. bob managed to make a bit of disorder in the kitchen while ani was at fitness class, but cleaned everything up afterwards. All the parallel operations were suspended waiting for her arrival. Orzo sitting in the hot water, broccoli stopped from cooking, covered, sautéed stuff off the heat, covered. The final toss together over medium heat finished off the dish. Meanwhile the catfish had been marinated with Old Bay, salt and black pepper and drops of plastic lemon container juice, then popped into the oven for 15 minutes at 350°. Not a bad meal. Relatively healthy too.

ingredients

3/4-1 c whole wheat orzo

1 lb ? broccoli [we had one big head and one smaller head, both crowns]

1 small onion, chopped finely

3 or 4 baby bellas or equivalent other mushrooms, chopped

1/4 - 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

1 large garlic clove, pressed

1/4 t Middle Eastern red pepper

a touch of  seasoning salt

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

instructions

1. Clean and chop the mushrooms.
2. Put 2 T olive oil, the pressed garlic, a touch of seasoning salt, some black pepper and Middle Eastern red pepper (not too much) in a small bowl or pestle and crush the garlic with a mortar, thus mixing these ingredients at the same time. [This is essentially the aniandbob daily salad dressing minus the lemon juice---not bob's spontaneous imagination working here.]
3. Clean the broccoli and separate into small florets, cutting the stems into small pieces. Steam until softened but not limp.
4. Boil the orzo in about a quart of water some 8-10 minutes, whatever the package says. Turn off heat.
5. Sauté the onion in a nonstick pan in 2 T of olive oil, when softened a bit, toss in the chopped mushrooms. Stir around a bit. Pour in the oil and spice mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Toss in the broccoli and mix around over heat.
7. Drain the orzo and dump into the broccoli mixture.
8. Check for spices: salt especially. Maybe the Middle Eastern red pepper. Black pepper. Maybe another hit of olive oil.

notes

1. Illustrations available.