Orzo - the pasta that looks like rice

Perusing my new old favorite cookbook, How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by HeartI saw the section on orzo, so bought a box at the store. Why have I never cooked this before? We play around with little pastas all the time, yet somehow this was a new one. She has lots of flavor combos, but I opted for the simple butter and Parmesan version, although the lemon and parsley sounded great, too.

Anderson says you can cook it like pasta (lots of water, then drain) or like rice (with measured ratios of water to pasta, although, as an aside, you can also cook rice like pasta if you'd like, in lots of water and then drain). Not having made it before I opted for her "rice-like" method. This made a great side dish for the maple-Dijon chicken thighs I made the same night.

1 quart water
1/2 pound orzo (1 1/3 cups)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil or butter
1/4 cup or more grated Parmesan
black pepper to taste

Bring the water to a boil. Add the orzo and salt and stir. Cook uncovered 8-9 minutes, until the orzo is soft and has absorbed most of the water. Add the butter or oil, cheese, and pepper to taste. Stir and serve.

This was her plain version. The variations include blue cheese and walnuts; basil and pine nuts; tomatoes, feat, and olives; roasted red peppers and basil; and spinach and Parmesan.

Cheesy Cream of Broccoli Soup

I made a great cream of broccoli soup, following Bittman's How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food. He uses the same basic recipe for cream of nearly any vegetable soup, so feel free to substitute carrots, celery, cauliflower, turnips, etc.

4 cups chicken broth
1 pound (about 4 cups) of vegetable, trimmed and chopped
1/2 cup rice
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1 cup cream or milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
minced fresh parsley for garnish

I used chicken broth because I had it. You could easily substitute vegetable or beef broth for a different flavor, or even water for a somewhat plainer one. I used the rice for a thickener. His other option is a potato, peeled and quartered. An older recipe I like uses oatmeal.
Combine the broth, vegetables, rice (or potato) and bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer about 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender. Puree with an immersion blender or food mill or regular blender (let it cool a bit first for anything other than the immersion blender). Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Add the cream. I used the full cup AND added the Cheddar cheese because I felt like it.

It was awfully tasty!

The Simplicity of Salad

Sometimes, we tend to overcomplicate things. Like salad. I am reminded of this every time I see the myriad bottled dressings at the grocery store that I mostly manage to live without. I admit to being partial to few, like Brianna's French Vinaigrette and Hidden Valley Ranch (how pedestrian, but so good!) but they are the exception rather than the rule. I grew up with a green salad on the table nearly every night and see bottled dressings as a luxury. We didn't have any dressings other than my Mom's oil and vinegar, which she mixed with some paprika, dry mustard, a dash of sugar, salt and pepper... I'm not sure what else. She just mixed it up in a teacup and poured it on the salad, then tossed it. There was always lettuce, chopped carrots and celery and then an extra or two, maybe black or green olives, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm after our El Salvador visit, chopped tomatoes or cherry tomatoes in season, green onions... We ate the salad at the end of the meal, after the main course. That's what we filled up on. Yet somehow I sometimes forget how simple it all can be.

I had bought a copy of How to Cook Without a Book: Recipes and Techniques Every Cook Should Know by Hearta few years back and just pulled it out again recently. I was so re-enthused by what I read that I bought my sister a copy. My original love affair with it started with Anderson's formulas for soup and lo mein. My sister was down for a visit this weekend and I gave the book to her as a "just because" gift (my favorite kind!). Last night, she sat reading it while I practiced my fiddle before dinner. I had a Cuban pork roast in the oven with some baked potatoes. She decided she wanted to try Anderson's "Whack and Toss Salad" non-recipe because she likes some variety in her salads but feels like she gets stuck in a rut and buys too many salad dressings as the means to relieve the rut. We settled on a mix of baby greens and romaine lettuces, some hearts of palm, and an orange from my tree, peeled and chopped, along with some shaved Parmesan. The oranges suffered from the freeze but are still okay to eat, just not as juicy and tart as they were prior.

Anderson's directions are so simple that most of you may laugh, but sometimes some of us need to be reminded that simple is good. I have learned that in soups sometimes less is more and I believe the same to be true of salads. If I'm not sure what I'm doing I tend to keep adding ingredients, but last night we kept it pretty simple and it was one of the best salads! Like my favorite soups of the past, a few good ingredients is better than a mish mash of too many.

The rules of thumb scattered throughout this book are what makes it a real lesson in how to "cook without a book." So for salads, for example, she suggests 1 1/2 cups of lettuce per person. And each heart of romaine tends to yield about 4 cups so you don't really need to measure. Supplement with other greens if you like, as we did with the spring mix I'd purchased the other day.

Put the greens in a bowl. Add 2-3 "extras" and toss. Drizzle about 1 Tbs of olive oil per serving, sprinkle salt and pepper on it, then toss. She suggests using spring-loaded tongs which seem to work quite nicely, although I'd never used them for that before. The ingredients should be lightly coated with oil when you're done and taste like they have as much salt and pepper as you like. If the lettuce is not lightly coated with oil, drizzle a bit more on and toss again. Add more salt or pepper as needed. At this point, you can be done if it tastes good to you. If you've used some acidic extras like in-season tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, or beets you may already have enough acidity. If not, drizzle some vinegar onto the salad and toss again. We used balsamic vinegar last night but you could use red wine or white wine vinegar or even lemon juice. Toss again and taste. Adjust as needed.

Her list of extras is inspiring. I'll list a few of my favorites:

dried sweetened cranberries
toasted nuts (walnuts or sunflower seeds being my favorites)
cheese (blue cheese, feta, Parmesan, goat cheese, even small cubes of Cheddar)
oranges
pears
apples
chickpeas or kidney beans
olives of your favorite variety

and of course the usual vegetables:

sliced mushrooms
avocados
bell peppers
celery
cucumbers
red onion (especially good with oranges!)
radishes

And of course if you have a bit of leftover bacon or a hard boiled egg, those make great extras!

Remember though, just pick two or three and keep it simple!

Salsa Verde with Steamed Cauliflower

I'm a fan of little sauces and side dishes. Browsing through Vegetables Every Day for a cauliflower recipe, I found one that called for steaming the cauliflower and then mixing it with salsa verde, which I'd never made before. Anything with capers catches my eye and since my parlsey is still growing madly out the back door despite our recent freezes I tried it. Definitely a winner! I left it in a small bowl at the table to be spooned onto the plate rather than tossing it with the cauliflower. After steaming the cauliflower pieces, I put them in a bowl and put a pat of butter on them, mixing it in as it melted. The kids happily ate theirs plain and my adult guest and I happily plied on the salsa verde. I served this with a pork loin and the salsa verde was equally good with the pork!

1/4 cup minced parsley
1 Tbs capers, drained and minced
8 green olives, pitted and minced (mine were stuffed with pimentos)
1 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

The recipe also called for two minced anchovy filets but I don't do anchovies. Several people have suggested I buy the little tube of anchovy paste and use that, which I keep meaning to do.

If you like chimichurri sauce, you'll like this too I suspect.