It’s been over two years since I moved to the US from China. Making a run to the grocery store doesn’t take me hours anymore because I don’t really have trouble with finding and recognizing most of the local ingredients.
It was certainly a challenge before. I remember the first time I was in Whole Foods Market, I stood in front of just the vegetable section and realized I had never seen at least half of the vegetables in my life. Not knowing the English names of some of the ingredients certainly didn’t help when I wanted some assistance to finding what I wanted.
That was quite a learning curve.
Although a goal of trying to cook every single item from the local grocery store near me is never properly set, I do have the attempt to create dishes with new stuff. Stuff that I have never tried before.
Lately, this gigantic-rice-looking pasta named Orzo has caught my attention. So I purposely ordered it whenever I ate out, cooked it according to the popular recipes online, and tested it with my creation until this 7-ingredient and 15-minute Pan-Fried Basil Tomato Orzo came to play.
The secret? Pick the right sauce.
In this recipe, we cook freshly diced tomatoes in Sun-dried Tomato Pesto to form our secret sauce. Then we fold in cooked Orzo until the sauce is thickened up and absorbed by the Orzo. Fresh basil will be our finishing touch.
This is a great side dish that goes well with steak, chicken, grilled fish, and other seafood. I shamelessly treated it as a main course and literally devoured half of the thing as lunch after the photos were taken.
I hope you enjoy this Pan-Fried Basil Tomato Orzo as much as I did. Leave a comment below or tag #gourmetpersuasian on Instagram when you get a chance to make it. I would love to know what you pair it with. Cheers!
Cook orzo according to the instruction on the package. Bring 2 quarts water with a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add orzo and cook for 9 minutes or until orzo is tender.
While the orzo is cooking, chop the tomatoes and basil.
Once the orzo is cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again.
Heat up a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and swirl. Once the oil is hot, place tomatoes in the skillet and cook for about 1 minute. Stir occasionally. The tomatoes will make some juice at this point.
Add sun-dried tomato pesto and stir well with the tomatoes, then fold cooked orzo into the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir for another minute or until the sauce is thickened up.
Turn off the heat, add basil. Stir well and serve warm.
This recipe serves 4 as a side dish and serves 2 as a main dish.
This is a nice alternative to my usual rice meal. I’m excited to try this tomorrow!