Creamy Garlic Mushroom Orzo
- Yield 3
- Prep 15 minutes
- Cook 25 minutes
- Total 40 minutes
Creamy Garlic Mushroom Orzo is a pasta recipe on Avoteb. The yield on the card is 3. Plan on 40 minutes from start to plate. The amounts and the method are both on this page.
Ingredients
Yield: 3 servings
- 8 ounces uncooked orzo
- 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 1 pound mixed mushrooms, sliced (I used half baby bella, half shiitake)
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 5 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
- 1 ounce freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 handfuls fresh baby spinach
- 1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh basil
- zest and juice of 1 small lemon (optional)
Method
Warm the water for the orzo. Raise a large saucepan full of generously-salted water to a boil.
Brown the mushrooms. While that cooks, heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large sauté pan over medium-a hot burner. Tip in half of the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring and flipping every few minutes, until browned. Move the cooked mushrooms to clean plate. Repeat with an additional 1 tablespoon butter and the remaining mushrooms, then move the mushrooms to the plate.
Leave the orzo. Tip in the orzo to the boiling water and cook until 2 minutes shy of al dente.
Sauté the veggies. While the orzo cooks, add the remaining butter to the sauté pan along with the shallot, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Sauté for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Tip in the cooked mushrooms, heavy cream, a generous pinch of salt and pepper and stir to combine. (If the pasta isn’t quite ready at this point, remove the pan from the heat. Otherwise, continue on.)
Mix Once the pasta is ready, move it to the sauté pan along with 1 cup of the starchy pasta water. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente.
Finish. Lift pan from heat. Tip in in the Parmesan, spinach, basil, lemon zest and juice (if using), and stir gently until the spinach has wilted. If the pasta seems too dry, add some of the reserved starchy pasta water. Taste and season with salt, pepper and/or extra lemon juice if needed.
Plate Plate warm, garnished with extra Parmesan, and enjoy!
