Orzo With Celery, Cranberries And Pecans

Total Time: 35 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3/4 cup yellow red onion (if desired, use red onion if you choose to prepare this as a salad)
• 1 1/2 cups diced celery
• 1 1/2 cups orzo pasta (cooked in vegetable or chicken broth and drained)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (reduced from 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup pecans (toasted) or 1/2 cup sliced almonds (toasted)
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil (fresh only!)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 pinch salt
• cracked black pepper

Recipe

• 1 stuffing: melt butter with olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
• 2 add diced onion, cooking 4 minutes or until onions are translucent and golden brown.
• 3 add celery; cook 4 minutes longer.
• 4 in a large bowl, combine the drained orzo, cooked celery and onion, cranberries, nuts, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.
• 5 toss gently.
• 6 at this point, if desired, the orzo is now ready to be stuffed.
• 7 variations:.
• 8 as a side dish: heat up the olive oil and butter in a saute pan on medium heat. saute the celery, onion and uncooked orzo pasta until lightly browned.
• 9 add 3 cups water or broth and bring to boil. cover pan, reduce heat and simmer on low for 20 minutes or until liquid has evaporated.
• 10 remove from heat and stir in the cranberries, pecans, fresh basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
• 11 to make it as a salad: boil orzo and cook until tender. drain and rinse under cool water. drain again. transfer orzo to a salad bowl. add the diced onion, minced celery and shredded basil to the pasta. in a small non-reactive bowl, whisk together about 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice (play around with the proportion and amount of oil and lemon juice as desired), salt and pepper. stir the vinaigrette into the orzo. fyi: the butter is omitted.