custom house: Mushroom Orzo

This recipe incorporates three of my favorite things - mushrooms, cheese and pasta! Its a simple side dish that has a nice subtle flavour with a great crunchy texture from the water chestnuts.

What you'll need:

4 tbsp Butter
1 large Onion, finely chopped
10 Mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cups Orzo, uncooked
1 can Water Chestnuts, drained and sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1/4 tbsp Salt or to taste
1/4 tbsp Ground Pepper
Chopped Parsley For garnish

Slice up the mushrooms. I seriously could eat mushrooms with just about everything. I once dated a guy who didn't like mushrooms OR chocolate and I really don't know how we dated as long as we did. It should have been soooo obvious that it wouldn't work out the first time that he turned his nose up at my suggesting that we put mushrooms on a pizza.

Chop up the onions finely.

Water Chestnuts! Some of you may notice that this can is actually from England. I was visiting family while in Europe on vacation and I found out that Sainsbury's Water Chestnuts were produced in a peanut-free facility, so I snatched up a few cans. I wonder what the security guys thought when they scanned my suitcase. Who travels with cans of water chestnuts?

Drain the water chestnuts.

Slice them in half. You can also cut them up a bit finer if you prefer smaller pieces, but I like mine on the bigger side.

Orzo, also known as "Italian Rice", is a great pasta to throw into soups and dishes.

It has a rice shape, but is made of wheat. I've even used it as a vase filler one time.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. In the meantime bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook orzo according to directions on the package.