Orzotto
I think whoever came up with risotto did so intending to come up with a dish that takes as long to cook as humanly possible. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lovely creamy risotto, but it is a pain to make at home as you just have to stand over a stove stirring rice for up to 40 minutes.
So I think it’s time that we kick that rice to the curb and welcome in a beautiful risotto made from a product that may look like long grains of rice, but is in fact a type of pasta: orzo.
Orzo’s small shape lends it to be great to sprinkle into soups, served with seafood, or done in as many ways as you need smaller pasta to do, and I wanted to see what would happen if I used it to make risotto.
Of course, the word risotto contains riso, which from Italian translates to rice, so I suppose we need to rename it a bit. How about calling it orzotto? Yeah, that should work. And considering pasta cooks in about half the time as rice, it should give us a risotto that doesn’t take nearly as long to cook while still giving us that starchy, delicious creaminess that good risotto has.
Let’s do it!
Serves 4
3 cups chicken stock (homemade or store bought, both work, but make sure you get reduced sodium in that case)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup orzo
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano, plus more for serving
Salt and pepper, to taste
Pour the chicken stock into a saucepan, and heat to a simmer. Keep that hot over a medium-low heat.
While the stock warms up, warm the oil in a wide nonstick pan until the oil begins to shimmer. Add the shallots and garlic, then cook over medium-low for about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the shallots soften.
Add the orzo and cook for about 2 minutes to lightly toast. Add the wine, then cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, or until the wine has almost fully evaporated.
Add enough hot chicken stock to cover, about a ladle’s worth shall do ya, and continue to stir the orzo over medium-low heat, being careful not to let the pan simmer too rapidly, until the orzo has absorbed almost all of the stock, then add some more.
Continue this process of stirring and adding stock, tasting the orzo now and then to check the cooking process, until the orzo is tender and there’s still enough starchy stock in there to cover, it’ll only take you 10-12 minutes. Once done, take the pan off the heat, stir in the peas and cover with foil (or a tight lid if you have one for that pan) and let the orzotto rest for at least 4 minutes.
Add the butter, stirring until melted and combined, then gradually add the Parmigiano and stir until it forms a nice creamy consistency. Taste and season the orzotto with salt and pepper, then serve. If the Orzotto seems a bit too thick, you may need to add more stock to help you get that nice creaminess.
