Fish or chicken go nicely with orzo pasta and feta cheese with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked orzo
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup pine nuts
- 1 (10 ounce) bag baby spinach
- ⅛ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 (8 ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
- ½ fresh tomato, chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. (Firm or slightly undercooked orzo works best for this dish.) Drain, transfer to a mixing bowl, and set aside.
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat, stirring to blend. Stir in garlic, basil, and red pepper flakes, and reduce heat to medium. Stir in pine nuts and cook until lightly browned. Add spinach, cover, and cook on low heat for 5 minutes, or until spinach is wilted.
- Toss spinach mixture with orzo pasta. Portion onto serving plates with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkling of crumbled feta cheese and chopped tomatoes. Allow guests to adjust seasoning with salt, as needed. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 550 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| Cholesterol | 33 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 514 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 33 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ve made this dish several times and everyone loves it. It tastes like it should be time consuming to prepare but it is super easy. I reduce the amount of oil to 1/4 to cut down on calories and it is still wonderful. compliments to the chef!
This was easy and tasted great. I followed others’ suggestions and used half the fat, and I felt it was fine that way. I wish I’d used all of the spinach the recipe called for; I ran out of room in the skillet and the spinach I used cooked down to a bit less than I’d hoped for. Next time I’ll use the full 10 oz. Great tasting dish.
Wow! Wasn’t expecting this to become my favorite side dish. This recipe looked a bit strange when I started but my, my! These flavors go together well. I used a balsamic glaze instead of just the vinegar. 5 stars!!
This was a very delicious dish!!! I made no changes to the recipe. Will definitely make it again!!!
This was quick and easy to make. It is a beautiful looking dish. I took the advise of others and used half of the olive oil. My husband liked and and I’ll be making it again.
I’m making this twice this week!! I added a few olives and marinated mushrooms because they go so well with the other ingredients. I’m not vegan, but I would eat this all the time if I was. Delicious!
Absolutely divine! I followed the recipe except for using sliced grape tomatoes and goat cheese instead of feta. Beautiful dish and fun to make!
This is a perfect side dish for salmon or grilled chicken.
Added salt, a squeeze of lemon, and about 6 chopped kalamata olives. Substituted quartered grape tomatoes for the beefsteak tomato. Followed other users advice and halved both the butter and oil. It was still more than plenty! Very tasty and a great side dish to my hubbs smoked salmon! Four stars because it would have been bland without the additions.
I made a few minor changes: 1. Cut the orzo in half because there’s only two of us. It still made for a lot of pasta though. 2. Cut down the oil (not necessary) and didn’t use butter (health reasons). 3. Didn’t use pine nuts (too expensive) or pepper flakes (toddler can’t handle the heat). 4. Put in extra garlic and spinach – I didn’t find that either overwhelmed the dish given that I cut down on the orzo. I served this with a Greek chicken recipe that I found on this site. Not a bad dish but I probably wouldn’t make it for dinner again. I would consider making it for a BBQ as a side dish though.
Incredible and easy. Definitely add the balsamic.
I made 1/2 recipe. Only thing I would change is to wilt spinach in plain water. The vinegar darkens the spinach. I added a little salt myself because it will be part of a buffet.
The only thing I did differently was to use 5 cloves of garlic instead of the 1/2 t. It was great!
This orzo dish looks fancy and is very easy to make. But, beside the little kick from the red pepper flakes, it was little bland. The only change I made was omitting the butter, just didn’t see any need for it , with that much olive oil.. Next time, I will cook the orzo in some chicken broth, before adding to the spinach.
I make this often as is with no changes except for a little more balsamic vinegar. It presents beautifully and is even better the next day. I have to shoo my husband away as he hovers with a fork in hand when I make this!
This was my first time cooking orzo and I was very pleased. My only advice is to take it easy on the red pepper, because it will overtake the dish if you are careless.
Did not have feta cheese so I used blue cheese crumble…. still came out great! Definitely will make again! This is great as a meal if you are vegetarian or as a side dish.
This is very good. The balsamic vinegar is key. I used can diced tomatoes. It makes a lot.
I found this recipe while in a rush to find a side for my entree (salmon). I had most of the ingredients on hand but still left out quite a few things: the olive oil, crushed red pepper (I typically don’t like spicy things), the pine nuts and the tomato. Even without these ingredients, this was a really stunning and simple recipe that is definitely going in the do-again box.
Too much oil – cut oil by 1/3 to 1/2 amount in recipe. Dish is very bland without salt and balsamic vinegar. Increase all spices to compensate for bland flavor.
Delicious! I over cooked the pine nuts but that was my own fault. And despite that I cook with spinach at least once a week, I always forget how much spinach cooks down once wilted/steamed/etc…. just a reminder!