Food Glorious Food, here we go, my first food post. Whoop whoop!
I love food, I really do enjoy it. Whether its a gourmet meal, street food or tucking into a plate of my mum’s brown stewed chicken, its safe to say- I am a fan of food. I’m also a fan of not overeating and eating some what healthily but above all this, when it comes to cooking and preparing a weekday evening meal, time is of the essence.
Being a working mum, meals that are easy to prepare, quick and healthy..ish are what i seek . As I’ve mentioned before I like to cook fresh 4/5 times a week, for two reasons. 1) I like to know exactly what I’m feeding to my family, so by making it myself this puts my mind at ease and 2) I like to cook.
I’ve always enjoyed experimenting with ingredients and putting my own spin on recipes, its fun and I’ve created a few good dishes along the way, like this one Speedy Seafood Orzo.
Now this particular dish is great if you don’t have a lot of time but want to try something different yet delicious. The seafood can easily be substituted with vegetables such as courgettes or aubergines if you are vegetarian. The butter can be swapped for olive oil and you can buy vegan red pesto from realfoods.co.uk for £2.59 this would give you a lovely vegan dish. If you are gluten free you can purchase a 400g pack of gluten free orzo from Amazon for £5.84.
Below I have listed the ingredients that I use and approximate quantities as I don’t always weigh everything, i like to taste as i go along. The recipe below serves 2 adults and 1 little person.
Ingredients
200g Mixed seafood (prawns, mussels & squid)
2 small cloves of garlic, crushed
small knob of butter
juice of half a small lemon (you may want to use less)
salt and pepper to season
2 tblsp red pesto
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
150g cooked Orzo (add to boiling water and cook for 9 mins)
How to make it
Firstly, boil water in a saucepan for the orzo. When the water is boiling add in the orzo and cook for 9 mins. I suggest you actually time these 9 mins as overcooked orzo is quite mushy and doesn’t taste as nice as if it is cooked al dente. Once cooked, drain in a colander and leave to one side.
Once the orzo is cooked, using a non stick frying pan on medium heat, melt the butter and sauté the garlic and mixed seafood for 3 mins. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to season to your liking.
When the seafood is cooked add in the spinach and stir until the spinach has just wilted. Now its time to stir in the pesto and cooked orzo. Make sure all ingredients are well coated in the pesto and that everything is mixed together well.
There you have it- a very quick, flavourful dish that could be a weekday meal or even a quick rustle up dish if you have friends or family over. Try it, I’m sure you will not be disappointed.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask me in the comments section.
