Need a substantial side dish for your holiday table?
This Orzo Puttanesca might just be what you are looking for.
This is a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love. This cookbook is available from your local bookstores and from Amazon. The “shelf” reference in the title refers to a collection of recipes that you can usually make right from the shelves of your cupboard. Who doesn’t need that type of recipe now and then when a grocery store trip is the last thing you want to do?
Here’s what the authors of Shelf Love have to say about their book: “To build up this book we have broken down our kitchens: pulling ingredients apart only to put then back together again–cohesive dishes based on kitchen finds. A bag of dried chickpeas, repurposed. A pound of onions, cooked down. Some wonky-looking vegetables, grilled. There is a “this for that” ethos here; the understanding that, in this new world, the need to improvise, to roll with the punches, is more crucial than ever before.”
“Wonky-looking vegetables.” Made me laugh. I’ve always got some of those in my refrigerator crisper.
Orzo, if you don’t use it often, is a rice-shaped pasta generally made from semolina flour. The semolina gives the little pieces of pasta density and a bump in protein. It is often used in pilafs as a rice substitute, in soups and even in salads.If you see what looks like orzo on store shelves labeled as risoni, you’ve found orzo. Risoni is the Italian name for the product.
This recipe was originally made with tuna and anchovies, but this recipe substitutes artichoke hearts for the tuna and extra capers to mimic the anchovies. We’re definitely “rolling with the punches” here–just as the authors of the book recommend.
Here is the recipe.
Orzo Puttanesca
Ingredients
- 4 T. olive oil
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 6 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1/2 t. chile flakes
- 3 T. capers (or more to your taste)
- 1 oz. preserved lemon (thinly sliced in strips)
- 1/2 C. pitted Kalamata olives (halved for the dish but used whole for the garnish)
- 1 jar of artichoke hearts
- 1 T. tomato paste
- 1 Fourteen-ounce can of diced tomatoes
- 1 3/4 C. water
- 1 1/3 C. dried orzo
- 2 plum tomatoes (sliced)
- 1/3 C. grated parmesan
- 1/4 C. basil leaves (roughly torn)
- Salt and black pepper
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Step 2 Heat 3 T. oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté onion in the heated oil until the onions are soft and browned. Stir the onions as you cook them.
- Step 3 Add the garlic and chile and sauté for about a minute more until these ingredients are fragrant.
- Step 4 Stir in the capers, half the preserved lemon, 1/3 C. of Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, tomato paste, canned tomatoes, orzo,1 3/4 C. water, 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. black pepper. Heat this mixture to a simmer and then cover with the lid.
- Step 5 Move the Dutch oven to your oven and bake this dish at 425 degree F. for 20 minutes until the orzo is fully cooked.
- Step 6 Remove the pan from the oven and arrange the plum tomato slices on top of the orzo. Sprinkle the dish with grated Parmesan. Increase your oven temperature to 475 degrees F. and bake the dish for 10-12 more minutes until it is beginning to brown on top. Remove the pan from the oven and let the dish sit on the counter for about 10 minutes.
- Step 7 Sprinkle remaining preserved lemon slices and basil leaves over the top of the dish. Drizzle remaining 1 T. of oil over the dish. Garnish with some chopped fresh basil and some whole Kalamata olives.
