Orzo, a rice shaped pasta pairs perfectly well with spinach in both taste and texture. After boiling and straining the orzo, sautéing the grains with the spinach helps hold it all together through the starch. This base is versatile, and can be combined with seafood, chicken, lamb, and pork. In this recipe, it was paired with a grilled herb rubbed pork tenderloin and topped with a creamy lemon sauce.
Ingredients (serves 2)
1 Pork Tenderloin
Marinade for at least 12 hours with chopped rosemary, thyme, sage, minced garlic, salt, onion powder, and black pepper. Optional: mustard powder or 1 tsp of dijon mustard.
Chicken can be substituted
Orzo & Spinach
1 cup Orzo
1 cup spinach (2 cups if preferred) - Regular works better, but baby spinach can be used.
1 small red onion - diced
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt, Black Pepper
Lemon
Lemon Mustard Sauce
Stone Ground or Brown Mustard works best. Dijon is also an option.
In case you want to make more than 1 serving, here is the rough ratio of ingredients.
50% Mayonnaise, 30% Mustard, 20% Olive Oil, Lemon Juice to taste..
Steps
Prepare Pork Tenderloin separately, grill or roast. 12-17 minutes
Boil orzo in salted water
Saute Onions in olive oil (preferably non stick pan) on medium heat
Once the onions are translucent (5 mins) - add spinach in bunches, keep stirring to wilt down the spinach. Add more olive oil and a touch of water or lemon juice to help steam the spinach leaves needed.
Once cooked down (3-5 minutes), turn off heat to the pan.
When the orzo is cooked through (10-15 minutes), strain and then add to the spinach, orzo skillet.
On medium-low heat, stir to incorporate the orzo into the spinach (3 minutes) and remove from heat.
Serve pork and spinach separately, add lemon sauce on top if desired.
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