| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 35 min |
| Active: | 35 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 large leek (white and light green parts only), sliced and rinsed
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 12 ounces orzo
- 3 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend (about 6 ounces)
- 1 5-ounce package baby spinach (about 8 cups)
- Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Toss the mushrooms with 2 tablespoons olive oil, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper on a baking sheet.
- Spread out in a single layer. Roast, stirring halfway through, until well browned and crisp around the edges, about 25 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then scrape up with a spatula and transfer to a bowl.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the leek and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until the leek softens, about 2 minutes. Add the orzo, 2 cups water, the milk, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the orzo is al dente, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and add the cheese, spinach, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon parsley. Stir until the cheese melts and the spinach wilts; add a splash of water if the mixture is too thick. Season with salt and pepper.
- Toss the mushrooms with the lemon zest and remaining 1 tablespoon parsley. Divide the orzo among bowls and top with the mushroom mixture.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 710 |
| Total Fat | 28 grams |
| Saturated Fat | 11 grams |
| Cholesterol | 48 milligrams |
| Sodium | 984 milligrams |
| Carbohydrates | 85 grams |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 grams |
| Protein | 31 grams |
| Sugar | 15 grams |
Reviews
Loved this. Had to make some substitutions to use what I had on hand: frozen peas instead of spinach. Half Small bow ties & half orzo. 2c 2% milk plus 1/4 c chicken broth and 3/4 c heavy cream. So much flavor!
The only reason I’m giving this a 2 is I’ll make the mushrooms again with something else. The sauce for the orzo was so bland and had a strange consistency… ended up tossing some of it.
I never write bad reviews however, I thought this was terrible. I feel like I wasted time and money on this one.
I really liked this recipe. The lemon enhances it. My husband thought it was bland. Different strokes for different folks. I will make this again, it is a versatile recipe, this can be used as a base to make it your own.
Made this tonight with a few adjustments: white mushrooms instead of cremini, half an onion instead of the leek, only 2 cups of milk and then about 2 to 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth, and reduced the lemon juice in half. Was very good, but still felt that it was borderline too lemony, so would probably just use half the lemon zest next time. Topped with some freshly grated Parmesan.
Made this last night. I used kale instead of spinach, so good. The kale had tooth while spinach gets mushy. Also used a reduced amount of half & half instead of milk. Then I blistered some green beans and added them to the top with the mushrooms, shitakes cuz it’s what we had. We really enjoyed this. It was so good. This isn’t a 1 pan and done meal, lots of dishes.
After reading the reviews I decided to go with 3 cups milk and 1 cup water. I like my food flavorful so I added a little bit more salt and an extra clove of garlic. As recommended, I doubled the mushrooms (half cremini, half portobello). The dish came out absolutely delicious! Next time I might actually try adding in half cup or so of water to see if we like a looser consistency.
Make 2x the mushroom and you wont be sorry. is this recipe really that many calories?
The cooking directions for my package of 16 ounces of orzo says to use 5 cups of water and drain, so its no wonder that some people report a soupy mess when following the directions above, which call for 12 ounces of orzo two cups of water and three cups of milk.
Five cups of liquid would be about right for arborio rice. Seems like this is a transposed risotto recipe, or something.
In any event, I started with only one cup of whole milk and one cup of water and added hot water from a kettle on low heat as needed. I may have used as much as 3 cups liquid in total.
The result was quite good. I have a mushroom/orange risotto that I often make but omit the orange juice. After seeing how good the lemon juice is in this orzo I am going to substitute lemon rather than omit orange the next time I make that risotto.
I added generous amounts of onion powder, garlic powder, thyme and rosemary to no avail — still a tasteless soupy mess. A lot of it stuck to the bottom of my pot. I wish I had read the reviews first. I think if I try this again, I’d make the orzo separately and make a smaller amount of the sauce to put in top.