A delicious recipe for super-green orzo

When it’s cold and grey outside, bring a little freshness into your life with a quick and easy super-green orzo. Perfect for devouring all in one go, or packing up leftovers for lunch, this recipe is low effort but full of green veg.

You can follow this recipe as closely or loosely as you like. Want to chuck some prawns on top? Do it. Going for Veganuary? Sub the bone broth for good quality vegetable stock and swap the parmesan for nutritional yeast. Looking for something soupier? Just add more liquid! However you decide to make this super-green orzo, the principles remain the same – pack in the veg, add some brightness with lemon, and if you can, do all the cooking in one pan to avoid more washing up.”

Ingredients

Serves 2-3

• 1 tbsp olive oil (I love to use Citizens of Soil), plus extra for drizzling
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or grated
• 200g orzo
• 800ml bone broth
• 1 courgette, roughly chopped
• 50g peas
• 150g cavolo nero, roughly chopped
• 50g spinach
• 100g tenderstem broccoli, roughly chopped
• 2 lemons, zest and juice
• 30g grated parmesan, plus extra to serve
• Sea salt and pepper
• Fresh soft herbs, like dill or parsley

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over a medium heat – I use an Our Place Always Pan. Add the shallot and gently fry until softened. This will take about five minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 30 seconds.

2. Add 200ml of broth to the pan, then the tenderstem broccoli and courgette. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the cavolo nero and spinach, stirring until they’re wilted. Add the peas, and then tip the veg mix into a blender. Chill immediately – this will help keep your sauce a vibrant green when you come to blend it later.

3. While your veg mix is cooling, add the orzo to the pan with the rest of the bone broth. Cook the orzo for 8-10 minutes, stirring often until most of the broth is absorbed. Turn off the heat.

4. Add the zest and juice of a lemon to the veg mix, along with the parmesan, a pinch of sea salt and a grind of pepper. You can add a handful of fresh herbs too, if you like. Blitz everything together in your blender until you have a smooth sauce. You might need to do this in batches, or add a little water if it’s too thick. Add more salt, pepper and lemon to taste.

5. Pour your super-green sauce into the orzo, and gently warm through over a medium heat. Remember, you can always add more to make your orzo saucier. If you have some sauce left over, keep it in the fridge or freeze it.

6. Plate up your super-green orzo, adding whatever toppings you fancy. I like to add more fresh herbs, more lemon zest, a generous drizzle of olive oil, plenty of parmesan and then a dusting of The Truffle Guys truffle dust.

Tips

You can prep your veg mix in advance and leave this chilling for a few hours if you like. If you’re reheating leftovers, you might want to add a little bone broth or water to loosen the sauce.

Serve with

Warm focaccia, or add a protein of your choice – grilled chicken, garlic prawns, or even a poached egg would work really well.

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