Filling, rich delicious vegetarian pasta bake. I was pleasantly surprised when I wrote this recipe to note that the calories count is quite low for an unctuous cheesy bake!
550 ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 banana shallot, thinly sliced
2 sprigs thyme, leaves removed
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
25 g butter
250 g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
250 g orzo
1 tsp salt
100 g spinach
1 spring onion
100 g gorgonzola (or blue cheese of your choice) broken into pieces
Preheat the oven to 200c Fan.
Place the dried porcini mushrooms in a pan with the stock and star anise. Bring to a simmer, remove from the heat and leave the mushrooms to soak in the hot liquid for 15 minutes. Remove the star anis from the stock and discard then remove the porcini mushrooms, squeezing out any excess liquid, roughly chop.
Place a wide deep oven proof pan that has a lid over a medium/low heat, add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the leeks, shallot, thyme and garlic until soft (approx 7 minutes).
Add porcini to the pan along with the fresh mushrooms and the butter. Continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add the orzo, stock and 1 tsp of salt. give everything a good stir, cover with a lid and bake for 20 minutes. If you don’t have a lid for your pan, tightly cover with foil.
Remove from the oven, turn the heat up to 220c fan. Stir in the spinach, sprinkle with spring onion and crumble the cheese over the top. Bake uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Mushroom, Spinach & Blue Cheese Orzo Bake
Ingredients
- 30 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 550 ml vegetable stock
- 1 star anise
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 leeks finely sliced
- 1 banana shallot finely sliced
- 2 sprigs thyme leaves picked
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 25 g butter
- 250 g chestnut mushrooms
- 250 g orzo
- 1 tsp salt
- 100 g spinach
- 1 spring onions finely sliced including green parts
- 100 g gorgonzola or your preferred blue cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c Fan.
- Place the dried porcini mushrooms in a pan with the stock and star anise. Bring to a simmer, remove from the heat and leave the mushrooms to soak in the hot liquid for 15 minutes. Remove the star anis from the stock and discard then remove the porcini mushrooms, squeezing out any excess liquid, roughly chop.
- Meanwhile, place a wide deep oven proof pan that has a lid over a medium/low heat, add 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sauté the leeks, shallot, thyme and garlic until soft (approx 7 minutes).
- Add porcini to the pan along with the fresh mushrooms and the butter. Continue to cook for 5 minutes. Add the orzo, stock and 1 tsp of salt. give everything a good stir, cover with a lid and bake for 20 minutes. If you don't have a lid for your pan, tightly cover with foil.
- Remove from the oven, turn the heat up to 220c fan. Stir in the spinach, sprinkle with spring onion and crumble the cheese over the top. Bake uncovered for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Video
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