Orzo with Caramelized Vegetables & Ginger

This recipe is really not too difficult, if you cut everything up before you start cooking. I didn’t really do that but I did read ahead enough to stay out of danger! The first bit of advice is to use the largest pan you have or the ingredients will not all fit! I had a bit of trouble finding orzo pasta (thanks Trader Joes) but I think any small pasta would do. While the orzo cooked I peeled the sweet potato. I haven’t really cooked sweet potatoes before so I was unsure how to select one. It looked and peeled like a potato does but it felt woody, which I am not sure is normal. It did cook up okay, so I stumbled my way into it!

Warning though, as you toss sweet potatoes into hot oil they splatter something fierce! I had to wipe down the stove, the microwave above the stove, the surrounding countertops and the floor after I finished cooking. I diced the onions while the sweet potatoes cooked and added them to the pan after moving the sweet potatoes to one side. The recipe didn’t say exactly when to add the garlic and ginger so I added them two minutes after the onions. I mixed up the soy, vinegar and oil while the onions were cooking. This probably explains how I missed the “remove stems and dice the caps” instructions adjacent to the mushrooms.

I did wash the mushrooms and added them to the pan. Since I am not a fan of mushrooms I thought about skipping them, but I wasn’t sure if eliminating them would throw off the recipe. In retrospect, I think if I left the onions and sweet potatoes in the pan for a couple of minutes on the side without the mushrooms it would be fine. It would keep me from picking them out later! While the mushrooms were cooking I got out the chard. I used red chard since it looked good in the grocery store. I used about 4 leaves and took the green portion off of the red stalks. I should’ve chopped it up a little more but it was fine.

I added the sauce and mixed everything together. I knew I was on the right track because it smelled awesome! I turned up the heat and added the orzo. I scraped the bottom of the pan as it cooked, and I was pretty careful so the contents of the pan didn’t spill over onto the stove. I added the chard and when it began to wilt I took it off of the stove. I added salt and pepper to mine and parmesan cheese to my two-year-olds plate. We both had seconds ( and she ate my mushrooms, isn’t she nice?) Leftovers went to school and work for a couple of days where they were polished off. I have already been asked for more so this will definitely be made at our house again!