Orzo with lemon and fresh herbs
September 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm by Patrick
I got the recipe from a book review in the Atlantic Monthly, of all places… unfortunately I didn’t make a note of the cookbook from which it came, so if anyone knows, please put it in a comment. This is a lovely fresh summer recipe. The key is only to use the freshest herbs. The recipe called for mint, fennel fronds and dill, but the latter two ingredients looked limp and tired at my supermarket, so I used only fresh spearmint from my garden. I’m certain the dish was better for it.
Heat 7-8 cups broth (I used goose broth, but good chicken broth or water is fine). Heat 1/2 cup of olive oil in a large skillet along with 4-5 finely sliced garlic cloves and 4 cups of 1/4″ diced yellow squash. Stir frequently – the squash will give out a lot of liquid. Add 1/2 cup white wine (for 9000: I used 2005 pinot d’alsace from Zind-Humbrecht, which was also the wine served with dinner), 1 lb. orzo, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to coat the pasta with oil. Pour in 3 cups of the warmed broth and continue to cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently and adding more liquid as needed. You can choose to have it more soup-like or more stiff and dry like risotto…. the pasta al dente (my choice) or completely cooked through.
Remove the orzo from the heat and add 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of freshly grated lemon zest (yes, that’s a lot, and it’s important), and 1 1/2 cups of feta cheese (make sure you buy an excellent feta, and the least salty that you can find) that has been mashed with a fork. This will create a sauce as in the photo above.
Add roughly torn mint leaves (and fennel fronds and dill – most importantly, whatever’s fresh, preferably freshly picked from the garden or a pot on the sill). Corby Kummer, the Atlantic writer, concludes, “That is, let the garden tell you how to season an irresistibly Greek, and simple, dish.”
Note: the Atlantic claims this is enough to feed 6 as a main course. I made exactly half and it was just enough for 2. We didn’t serve much else with it though aside from the above-referenced Zind-Humbrecht, which I heartily recommend for it.
September 1st, 2008 at 10:42 pm
This sounds great. I did something similar with zucchini tonight (lemon, herbs, parmesan) which was fantastic. Lemon on green beans, a little butter, is the absolute best. Thanks for the recipe!
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:26 am
Funny, the recipe lists zucchini as an alternative to squash. I\\\’m not a huge zucchini fan so I didn’t try it that way.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:53 pm
i want to say soave, grechetto, verdicchio, or some other italian varietal. i trust your judgment entirely though and believe the alsatian blanc worked well.
does the type of wine really matter when you’re cooking? i mean, can you tell whether the zind-humbrecht was even in there? not that i know much anything about cooking.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Absolutely the type of wine matters… the alcohol evaporates but the rest of the flavors are there and meld in some complex way into the cooking. Additionally, wines drunk with meals that have been cooked in the same wine usually blend beautifully with the meal.
September 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
okay, makes sense. i’ve just never had a meal where i’ve been able to decipher what kind of wine–aside from it being either red or white–is infused into my dish. or maybe i’ve just never paid much attention. plus i guess i don’t eat too many dishes that use wine as an ingredient. i need to really work on fixing that.