Budget-friendly recipe: one-pot orzo with peas, mushrooms and bacon

Frozen peas are endlessly versatile, nutritious and budget-friendly. They’re besides a large mode to adhd much veg into a meal, and they premix good with different flavours.

Because I similar a decently browned mushroom, I fry them first, past region them from the cookware to premix backmost successful later. If you’re not fussy astir this, you tin velocity up the cooking clip by frying the mushrooms and onions together.

For a vegetarian mentation of the dish, region the bacon and opt for rootlike banal implicit chicken, and to marque it vegan, usage nutritional yeast alternatively of parmesan.

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One-pot orzo with peas, mushrooms and bacon

Serves 4

400-500g mushrooms, depending connected the battalion size, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 reddish onion, finely chopped
200g bacon lardons
1 tbsp herb paste (concentrated purée)
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
200g dried orzo
750ml rootlike oregon chickenhearted stock
Freshly crushed achromatic pepper
200g frozen peas
Handful of parsley, finely chopped, to service (optional)
Parmesan, grated, to service (optional)

Heat a ample frying cookware oregon saucepan with a lid implicit a mean heat. Add the mushrooms and adust fry until they’ve released their moisture and the liquid starts to evaporate. Drizzle successful fractional of the lipid and fry the mushrooms for a fewer minutes more, until they are opening to brown. Remove them from the cookware and acceptable aside.

Drizzle successful the remaining lipid and extremity successful the onions. Turn down the vigor to medium-low and fry the bulb for 8–10 minutes, oregon until softened but not golden.

Mix successful the bacon and crook up the vigor to medium. Fry for a fewer minutes until the bacon is aureate and starting to crisp.

Stir successful the reserved mushrooms and immoderate juices on with the herb paste and mixed herbs. Add successful the orzo and fry for a infinitesimal earlier adding the banal and a bully seasoning of freshly crushed achromatic pepper.

Put the lid connected the cookware and bring to the boil, past crook down the vigor and simmer for 8 minutes. Remove the lid to cheque however overmuch liquid is left; if it’s inactive rather soupy past support the lid disconnected and simmer for 2–4 minutes until the orzo is astir tender and the banal has been absorbed.

If the crockery starts to go excessively dry, it volition instrumentality to the bottommost of the cookware and commencement to burn. If this happens, adhd a small much h2o oregon banal – you privation a tiny magnitude of liquid, but it shouldn’t beryllium swimming.

Add the frozen peas and premix everything together. Cook for 2 minutes until the peas are warmed done and tender. Serve with a scattering of parsley and freshly grated parmesan, if you like.

• This is an edited extract from The Frozen Peas Cookbook by Samuel Goldsmith, photography by Mowie Kay (Murdoch Books, RRP A$39.99)