Do you like orzo, feta, tomatoes, and dill? If the answer is yes, then definitely try this recipe stolen from Epicurious.com once again. I loved this dish because it was super simple to make and I wound up with a lot of leftovers!
Ingredients:
3 Tbs of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups of Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup Chopped Dill
1 tsp grated Lemon Zest
1 cup Orzo
1 1/2 cup Crumbled Feta (6 oz) (I bought an exact 6 oz plastic tub of this at Trader Joe's)
Toss together oil, tomatoes, dill, and lemon zest in a large bowl. By the way an easy way to zest a lemon is to take a vegetable peeler and peel some skin off of a lemon. Then mince. 1 tsp of zest is easy to get from just peeling it a few times. Add a little pepper and a tiny bit of salt to your mix. (The feta is pretty salty so you want to make sure you don't add too much salt.) Let sit after stirring.
Meanwhile, boil salted water and cook orzo. Drain. Add to the above bowl mix. Stir vigorously. Add feta. Stir once more. Add additional salt or pepper if necessary. But only after you taste test it!
Simple and good!
Don't try this at home if you're vegan. At least not yet. This recipe is vegetarian but uses a lot of dairy. I will have to report back on the vegan version, that I haven't made yet. For now, I'm posting this recipe variation that I tried from Epicurious.com. The original recipe was too bland for me, so I decided to change it a little.
Ingredients:
1 cup frozen peas, not thawed
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp of dried red-pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves smashed
3 cups packed baby spinach (3 oz)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp of lemon juice
1 pound of dried gnocchi
1/2 cup of grated ParmesanSimmer peas with cream, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and 1/4 tsp salt in a 12-inch skillet or pan. Be sure to use smashed garlic. Peel and use the side of a large knife. Use your right hand to press down on the flat part of the knife. This will 'smash' the garlic. Simmer for about 5 minutes covered or until peas have soften.
Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring until spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. I used a vegetable peeler for the zest by peeling the skin off of the lemon. I then chopped the peel into bits.
Meanwhile, cook gnocchi in a pot with 3 Tbs of salt per 6 quarts of water until the gnocchi floats to the top. Reserve about 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain gnocchi.
Add gnocchi to sauce with cheese and the pasta water. Stir. Add salt, pepper, and possibly more Parmesan cheese to taste. So good!
Do you like orzo, feta, tomatoes, and dill? If the answer is yes, then definitely try this recipe stolen from Epicurious.com once again. I loved this dish because it was super simple to make and I wound up with a lot of leftovers!
