Hey there!
So we haven't done one of my Favorite Things posts in awhile. I've got a new favorite recipe to share with you, of all things! I know, I know....I don't usually cook with recipes. I much prefer to sort of wing it in the kitchen. Recipes can be so confining! LOL.
Anyway, I was working away the other afternoon, putting new stamps in cases and had the Cooking Channel on tv. Kelsey's Essentials came on. I usually don't pay a whole lot of attention, except to her cute outfits and cheery, pretty nails (she's adorable) but she started making this "orzotto". The trouble was, I didn't catch her explanation that orzotto is created when you make risotto using orzo.....so every time she said "orzotto", I thought she was saying risotto wrong! I thought maybe she was trying to be fancy or something! Hahaha. You know how Giada has a few words that she always says in veeeery Italian fashion? "mootzeh-rayla" Haaaa. I'm cracking myself up just trying to type that!
Annnnyway, so Kelsey kept saying orzotto and it kept jumping out at me every time she did, so I finally looked up and started paying attention and that's when I realized that what she was making looked really good. And really easy. And double bonus, I thought we had most of the ingredients on hand so that's when I decided to look up the recipe on the Cooking Channel online, and make it for dinner!
I made a few substitutions. I swapped out the peas and used some chopped, steamed asparagus instead. I also used soy milk instead of heavy cream....because we soy milk is what I had. I told you, I'm a 'wing it' kind of girl. :) Use what you have, that's my motto. I was also able to cut some fresh basil and chives from our garden, to use in this recipe. Don't be afraid to make it your own, based on the way you eat and what you have on hand.
The best thing about this orzotto besides how great it tastes is how EASY it is to make. I've always heard that risotto is pretty labor-intensive to make, but this orzotto was fast and easy and no trouble at all!
Oh my stars, I could eat buckets of this orzotto and Bartley gobbled it up too! It was one of those dishes that we had way more of than we could eat in one sitting and we were so sad that we couldn't eat it all right then and there because what if it's not as good leftover! Hahaha....and yet we were so happy to have some leftover! I'm tellin' ya, it's good. I took the photo above, with my iPhone, right before we dug in! Mmm.....I must make this again this week.
Here's the link to Kelsey's Lemon Basil Orzotto. Try it. You'll thank me. :)
