Pea green orzotto
This beautiful, bright green orzotto has the fresh flavours of sweet peas, fragrant basil and a wonderful oozy texture thanks to the mozzarella. It’s spring in a bowl! The pasta shape orzo, or risoni as it’s known in Italy, is so easy to cook. It gives a risotto feel to this speedy recipe with very little stirring required.
Ingredients
- 300g frozen peas, defrosted in a bowl of water
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 basil sprigs, leaves picked (save the small leaves for garnish)
- 20g parmesan (or veggie equivalent), finely grated, plus extra to serve
- 150g hot vegetable stock
- Squeeze lemon juice
- 350g orzo
- 150g fresh mozzarella (we used Galbani), drained, then grated or diced
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter (optional)
Method
- Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, put the defrosted peas in a blender with the garlic, basil, parmesan and stock, then whizz into a smooth, loose sauce. Taste and season with salt and lemon juice.
- Cook the orzo in the boiling water for 6-8 minutes.
- Pour the bright green sauce into a pan, add the grated mozzarella and heat until the cheese has completely melted – you don’t want to heat the sauce for too long or you’ll turn the sauce murky. Once the orzo has cooked, drain, then stir through the sauce and beat in the butter (if using). Divide among bowls, then top with cracked black pepper and more grated parmesan.
Nutrition
- 513kcals Calories
- 14g (8.4g saturated) Fat
- 23g Protein
- 68g (7.5g sugars) Carbs
- 8.5g Fibre
- 0.7g Salt
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Reviews
Absolutely delicious sauce, but the outcome was far too claggy with so much mozzarella. Will try next time with a cheddar and mozzarella mix and perhaps a bit more stock, but don’t want to drown that gorgeous sauce!
Thanks so much for your feedback on this recipe – we’re glad to hear the sauce was a hit. Delicious food producer Pollyanna clarified that she used fresh mozzarella for this recipe, and we have updated the ingredients list with this detail. She agrees a cheddar and mozzarella mix would work well – thanks for the idea!
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