Greek Zucchini Orzo

Kristin and I have been a bit bored by conventional vegetable-delivery methods, lately.  We needed a side for our Roasted Chicken and nothing quite seemed right.  I wanted to do something a little more interesting than a pile of steamed or roasted vegetables, and of course a little starch never goes amiss.  I decided to make something up, and my Orzo and zucchini invention worked out pretty well.

Zucchini was on sale, so we started there.  I chose Orzo as a starch because I think it's a really great textural element for a side dish, sitting right between pasta and rice and somehow capturing the best of both. The chicken had some Greek flavors - particularly oregano and lemon - so I decided to do the Orzo with a similar palette.  Ultimately, we ended up with a great, flavorful side dish that I'll definitely make again.

You'll need some orzo, obviously, and some zucchini.  The bulk of the flavor comes from lemon, garlic, oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.  It's all held together by a little butter and some white wine.

Take a look at this wine bottle.  How cool is that?  The portrait is on the inside of the back label.  I am more than happy to judge a wine by its bottle, and this one won me over immediately.  It was a good pick, too - a mix of Argentinian Torrontes grapes with just a bit of Sauvignon Blanc.  Yum.

Okay, back to food.  Dice the onion, mince your garlic, and chop down your zucchini into bite-sized pieces.

Cook your Orzo to al-dente according to the directions on the box, and we'll finish it off with the rest of the ingredients.

Add all of the vegetable matter you just chopped up to a large skillet over medium heat with a little butter or olive oil, and saute until things start to get tender.  Add plenty of spices - the oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.

When the vegetables are tender, add the Orzo into the skillet along with the juice of a lemon (a few tablespoons, if you're using pre-packaged juice) and half a cup or so of the white wine (stock works fine if you want to avoid alcohol).  Give it a good stir and let it burble away.  The al-dente Orzo and the Zucchini should absorb all sorts of flavor from the liquids.

When the liquid looks like it's mostly either cooked off or been absorbed, check your seasonings and adjust as necessary, then you're ready to serve.

Serve warm, topped with some extra herbs and/or a little Parmesan Cheese.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Greek Zucchini Orzo

Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 15-20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

• 12 oz Orzo Pasta
• 4 medium Zucchini
• Juice of one Lemon
• 1 medium Sweet Onion
• 1/2 cup White Wine
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tbsp Butter
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: Parmesan Cheese to garnish

Instructions

1. Cook Orzo to al-dente according to directions on package.
2. Dice onion, mince garlic, and chop zucchini down to bite-sized pieces.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, and zucchini.  Season with oregano, thyme, salt, and pepper.  Saute over medium heat until vegetables are tender.
4. Add cooked Orzo to skillet along with lemon juice and wine.  Simmer gently until liquid has evaporated or absorbed.
5. Check and adjust seasoning as necessary.
6. Serve warm, garnished with additional herbs and/or shaved Parmesan Cheese. 

Pork Chops in Wine Sauce with Mushrooms and Carrots

This meal was born out of uncertainty.  Kristin and I generally try to shop just once a week or so, and so we  need to get to the store with several meals' worth of ingredients on our shopping list.  This time, we were drawing a blank, and so decided to just see what was decent and on sale and improvise a meal from there.  

We'd just eaten a phenomenal quantity of pork in the week before, so were hoping to find some good beef on sale, maybe.  As it ends up, the beef was enormously expensive, and the fish at the fish counter was underwhelming, so we were back to pork.  I picked up some carrots and some pasta to go with it, and decided I'd figure out how to combine them when it came time to actually cook.

I eventually decided that I wanted to make a hearty wine sauce for the pork using the carrots, along with some mushrooms and onion.  My on-the-spot invention turned out pretty tasty, in the end.

Here's what I used: pork chops, fresh mushrooms, sweet onion, carrots, white wine, dijon mustard, lemon juice, tomato sauce, thyme, basil, salt, and pepper.  At first I hemmed and hawed over whether tomato and mustard could get along - it's a combination I also use in baked beans, and - obviously - goes together on hot dogs and hamburgers all the time.  It worked well here, too.

First, generously salt and pepper both sides of the chops.  Cook under the broiler, 4-5 inches away, 7-8 minutes per side (more for thicker chops, less for thinner ones).

While the chops cook, rough-chop the carrots and onion.

Saute the carrots and onion in a fairly deep pan with a bit of oil until the onions are getting translucent and the carrots are quite tender.  This can take a while.

When the vegetables are tender, it's time to transform them into sauce.  Add mushrooms, tomato sauce, plenty of white wine, a dash of lemon juice, and seasonings - I like thyme and basil here.  Simmer over medium heat to combine and cook the mushrooms - about 10 minutes should do the trick.

Somewhere during that ten minutes while your sauce simmers, your pork chops should be finished.  Perfect timing!  Let them rest a few minutes and they'll be ready to serve.

Once the sauce is done simmering, you're ready - that's it!  Serve the pork with a generous helping of sauce and vegetables on top, accompanied by your favorite starch.  I used some buttered, herbed noodles and liked it quite a lot.

Recipe: Pork Chops in Wine Sauce with Mushrooms and Carrots

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 35 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 6-8 inch-thick Pork Chops
• 1/2 lb Baby Carrots
• 1 large Sweet Onion
• 12-16 oz. White or Portabella Mushrooms, chopped
• 2 cups White Wine
• 1/3 cup Tomato Sauce
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp Thyme
• 2 tsp Basil
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Instructions

1. Season chops generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Broil chops 4-5 inches from broiler, approx. 8 minutes per side until cooked through.
3. Roughly chop carrots and onion.  Saute with olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until tender.
4. Add wine, lemon juice, tomato sauce, mushrooms, basil, and thyme to skillet.  Simmer over medium 10 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
5. Serve chops with a generous helping of sauce and vegetables, accompanied by your choice of starch.