Garlic, lemon, pepper and courgette orzo
Feeding a family can be hard. On the days I work I don't have bags of time for prep. We all want to eat and keep the pots and stress to a minimum. We started Family Feed as a way to share ideas with other families because 'what to cook' is often the hardest part. Meals like this courgette orzo allow me to add lots of colour and veg but without sacrificing comfort and satisfaction. Courgettes are in season from June - October.
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 2 peppers red, orange or yellow work best
- 1 courgette
- 4 cloves of garlic
- zest of ½ lemon
- 250 g orzo
- 1.5 tbsp oregano
- salt and pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
- feta to serve
- parmesan to serve
Instructions
- Finely dice all your veg and finely slice your garlic then set aside.
- In a pan of boiling water add 250g orzo and cook al dente (this was about 6-7 minutes for me)
- Fry your veg in extra virgin olive oil until soft then add the garlic. Give it a good stir and continue to fry for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the oregano, a little more olive oil, and about a ladle worth of pasta water from your orzo (if some orzo goes with it that’s fine) give everything a good stir. The starch from the pasta water will help to create a silky dressing for the orzo.
- Drain your orzo and add it to the pan with the veg. Mix thoroughly, add the lemon zest and continue stirring until fully combined.
- Season the pasta. I took a little out for the children before I added sea salt but you don’t need to do that.
- You can serve this as is. I served with a grating of parmesan, some crumbled feta, freshly ground black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.