Creamy Orzo

Submitted by CindiJ

"We watched Giada DeLaurentis prepare this dish and whole family agreed - this is a must fix. Creamy, wonderful blend of flavors."

 

• Ready In: 25mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 453.59 g orzo pasta
• 29.58 ml olive oil
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 411.06 g can diced tomatoes, juices drained
• 295.73 ml whipping cream
• 236.59 ml frozen peas, thawed
• 177.44 ml parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

directions

1. Bring a heavy large saucepan of salted water to boil over high heat. Add the orzo and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring often, about 8 minutes.
2. Drain - reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy large pan frying pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic, saute until until tender (about 2 minutes).
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until tender (5-8 minutes).
5. Stir in cream and peas.
6. Add orzo and toss to coat.
7. Remove from heat; add the Parmesan to the pasta mixture and toss to coat.
8. Stir the pasta mixture until the sauce coats the pasta thickly, adding enough reserved pasta water to maintain a creamy consistency.
9. Season with salt & pepper.

Reviews

[Honeypie27]

I just tried this and my family loved it!! Goes well with Rosemary chicken! This will be a favorite at my house. Thanks for sharing!

 

[lisa e.]

This is very good change from eating rice or potatoes. I added Hunts fire roasted tomatoes and some parsley and left out the peas not a big fan of peas. This was even better the next day.

 

[Ck2plz]

Really good! I loved the creamy texture. I increased the garlic to 1 tablespoon and used 1/2 and 1/2. I will increase the garlic next time(personal choice) and maybe use sun dried tomatoes packed in oil. I can use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes and saute the garlic and shallow. Just an idea!

 

[Twiggyann]

We really enjoyed this. I made a few changes based on our preferences. I used 2% milk to cut the calories a bit but then I added 3/4 cup of cheddar to the 3/4 cup of parm and got all those calories back *sigh*. I also used chopped broccoli instead of peas. For spices, I added 2 teaspoons of cajun seasoning and 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes. That jazzed it up enough to be really tasty for our family. Thanks for a great recipe.

 

[a-torres]

My DH and I loved this, we halved the recipe and it was good but somewhat bland for our taste so we added a couple teaspoons of cajun seasoning and it turned out wonderful... next time we will nix the peas.