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
- Clean and chop the mushrooms.
- 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.]
- Clean the broccoli and separate into small florets, cutting the stems
into small pieces. Steam until softened but not limp.
- Boil the orzo in about a quart of water some 8-10 minutes, whatever the
package says. Turn off heat.
- 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.
- Toss in the broccoli and mix around over heat.
- Drain the orzo and dump into the broccoli mixture.
- Check for spices: salt especially. Maybe the Middle Eastern red pepper.
Black pepper. Maybe another hit of olive oil.
notes
- Illustrations available.