Description
A comforting bowl of creamy garlic mushroom orzo with tender pasta wrapped in a luscious garlicky embrace, topped with fresh greens.
Ingredients
Scale
- 8 ounces uncooked orzo
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 pound mixed mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 5 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- Fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 ounce freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 handfuls fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh basil
- Zest and juice of 1 small lemon (optional)
Instructions
- Heat a large saucepan of salted water to a boil for the orzo.
- In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of butter. Add half of the sliced mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes until browned, then transfer them to a clean plate and repeat with the remaining mushrooms.
- In the boiling water, add orzo and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente. Reserve some pasta water.
- In the same sauté pan, add the remaining butter, minced shallot, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes; sauté for 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Transfer cooked orzo to the sauté pan with 1 cup of starchy pasta water and cook while stirring until the pasta reaches al dente.
- Remove from heat and add Parmesan, spinach, basil, and lemon zest and juice (if using). Stir until spinach wilts gently.
- Adjust consistency with reserved pasta water, serve warm garnished with extra Parmesan.
Notes
The key to making this dish flavorful is salting the pasta water and keeping the spinach and basil fresh by adding them at the end.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 329
- Sugar: 2g
- Sodium: 400mg
- Fat: 11g
- Saturated Fat: 6g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 49g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 10g
- Cholesterol: 30mg