Manestra

In my many random visits to random food blogs, I have come across a ridiculous amount of recipes, some of which I've bookmarked, some I haven't. This one I ran across was for a simple dish called Manestra, which I think is greek (since I found it on a greek lady's blog) and it's just orzo cooked in tomato sauce. It looked simple enough, so I thought I'd give it a try.

 First, you saute garlic and olive oil, add tomato sauce and some cans of water, salt and pepper and the orzo. Then you cook it on low heat while it bubbles, stirring often. Like once every minute, don't leave it. Or it'll stick. The lady's recipe said to do it for 45 minutes but mine only took about 20 before it was nice and thick and yummy.

You're supposed to serve the greek version with bread and feta, but I didn't have any feta cheese so I sprinkled parmesan cheese on and I added a little dried basil to it. I don't think the basil did much for the flavor. But it was oh so yummy!

 oooh preeettyyy. Anyway, I liked it, and please excuse my poor photography skills.

Orzo Cooked in Tomato Sauce (or Manestra) as adapted from Mama's Taverna

3 TB olive oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped
1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
3 cans of water
1/2 pound (about 1 cup) of orzo or menestra
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Heat the oil until hot and then add the garlic. Saute only for a few seconds, until fragrent. Do not let brown or even get golden. Move quickly, people! Burnt garlic is the worst!

Add your can of tomato sauce, and saute it with the oil and garlic for a couple of minutes. (I skipped this part in my haste to avoid burning the garlic, I'm not sure if it would have changed much) Then using the tomato sauce can, add your 3 cans full of water, salt and pepper, and your orzo.

Simmer over low heat until the orzo has absorbed all of the yummy tomato water and become plump and thick. I took mine off juuuuuuust as it was starting to seem like it could stick to the bottom of the pot. Mine took approximately 20 minutes or so but yours could take longer. Use your judgement, if you taste it and your orzo isn't done, well, cook it longer. :)

Tonight I'm making some strange version of Lasagna rolls in the slow cooker, it should be interesting. I'll probably post about it tomorrow.