Orzo with Shrimp

Following the very challenging Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart recipe I posted yesterday, I though I would be kind and post a very simple "un-screw-up-able" recipe for Orzo with Shrimp.

I have this bad habit, I surf around on the internet looking at blogs and recipe sites, and when I see something I like, or a new idea strikes me I create an e-mail in my g-mail account and save it as a draft. I looked in there yesterday and there were 97 drafts. Some of them were notes to friends I had started and not finished, but about 80 were recipes or new ideas for recipes. I started to sort through them and clean them out. I noticed this one and I had everything at home that I needed to make it.

Mario and I loved this, but neither Claire or Marco were fussy about it. Claire wanted me to "mash" the tomatoes so they would be more like spaghetti sauce. I also made the mistake of serving this with a large slice of garlic bread, which was just enough to take the edge of their hunger, so they wouldn't eat their pasta.


Orzo with Shrimp

1 cup uncooked orzo
2 cups diced tomato
1 1/2 cups sliced green onions
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1. Toss the raw shrimp in 2 tsp olive oil and the clove of garlic. Let sit.

2. Boil the orzo for 5 minutes, drain.

3. In a large bowl mix orzo, diced tomatoes, green onion, lemon rind, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, chopped fresh basil and salt and pepper.

4. Place mixture in a greased shallow baking dish. Cover and bake for 25 minutes at 425F.

5. Just before ready to serve, saute shrimp over medium-high heat (no need to add more oil, the 2 tsp the shrimp have been sitting in is enough). For about 2 minutes until cooked. Serve over pasta.