Orzo Bake

The Washington Post published this Three-Cheese Spinach Orzo Bake recipe which looked really good.

I decided to try an experiment to see if it would work just as well without boiling the orzo. I added an extra 1/4 cup of water when mixing the (not boiled) orzo, Parmesan cheese, and sauce.

The spinach needed to thaw, so I left the mixture sitting for about a half hour which probably let it soak up some moisture at room temperature.

After the spinach thawed, I completed the recipe (without nutmeg since I didn't have any - I'm not sure I would have liked the nutmeg anyway), popped it in the oven, and it came out quite good. So there's a colander and pot I didn't have to clean :-).

Remarkably it came out looking practically identical to the picture in the original recipe (which never happens for me). Might even be the exact same Anchor Hocking pie plate.

A sample spoonful shows the orzo has absorbed moisture and swelled up. It was tender, not crunchy, and tasted quite nice.

Cram a couple of wedges into a microwave safe container and it is a nice lunch the next day.