A debt of gratitude

I owe orzo copious thanks. For many years, my youngest son did not like pasta. I know. How is that even possible? Trust me we tried to reason with him, we pleaded, we begged, but not a single rigatoni or rotini would pass his lips.

Not liking pasta is not an option in my house; it is my go-to comfort food, and a feature in 99.9% of my favorite dishes, and not liking pasta is, quite frankly, akin to declaring war on all that is good and tasty, not to mention a sign that we may not be genetically related after all. The end of this trying period in our relationship and eating habits came by accident when I, one day, decided to make an orzo salad. Arriving at the table, my son took one look at the dish, said "Yum, rice!" and tucked in. I would love to claim credit for a master stroke of genius, but it was an accident, and oh, what a happy accident. Soon after that innocent mistake, the son in question tried more and more different shapes of pasta and came to the inevitable conclusion that it is not the work of the devil, but rather the most marvelous blank canvas for all sorts of saucy and vinaigrette-y deliciousness.

This recipe comes from a recent discovery of a website which I see myself spending many happy hours browsing in - it is a collection of vegetarian recipes from various authors at www.vanillaandbean.com. The recipe below makes more than enough to fill four sizable bowls for an easy supper.

Lemon Garlic Orzo with Roasted Vegetables
Serves 4
Adapted from Vanilla and Bean

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
8 oz crimini mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 red pepper, sliced
2 yellow peppers, sliced
1 bunch asparagus, woody stem-ends discarded, and cut into 1" lengths
12 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large shallot, sliced
olive oil
2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup orzo
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 TBSP chopped fresh basil
3 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

Dressing:
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F (220C).
2. Combine mushrooms, bell peppers, asparagus, tomatoes, garlic and shallot on a large rimmed sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir to coat the veggies.
3. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until veggies are tinged with brown at the edges.
4. Heat the vegetable broth in a saucepan until boiling, then add orzo and simmer for 15 minutes until orzo is tender. Drain off excess broth.
5. Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, juice, salt and pepper.
6. In a large bowl, when the orzo and veggies have cooled a little (they can be warm, but not piping hot, or they will melt the feta), mix them together (including all the juices from the veggies) with the feta, pine nuts and the dressing.
7. Garnish with herbs to serve.