Orzo D'apres D'Arabian (or perhaps Devant)

My late Sunday morning habit of watching Melissa D'Arabian's show on the food network always inspires me to make a veganized version of one or more of her dishes for Sunday's dinner. Even though I only caught the last four minutes of her show today, her orzo that behaves like risotto (and doesn't need any attention while cooking) got me very excited.

When I went to the website for her show, the recipe wasn't there, so I had to guess. My guessing came out so deliciously that I'm putting my recipe here. This recipe served two of us, and there was enough left over for another hungry person.

1T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 orange bell pepper, chopped
the zest of one lemon
1/4 t (or so) of Italian herbs

1 cup orzo
2 cups vegetable broth
freshly chopped Italian parsley

Heat the oil, and on rather high heat, caramelize the onion. Add the pepper and the lemon zest, and cook it for a few more minutes. Add the dry orzo, the dry herbs, saute them for a minute, and then douse the whole mixture with the vegetable broth.

Bring the mixture to a boil, and cook it uncovered on medium high heat (keep it boiling) for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Then throw in the parsley, turn off the heat, and cover the pot until you are ready to eat.

We had it with asparagus roasted in olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice, and Michael had salmon that was also cooked in lemon juice.

Now I'll go and compare what I did to what Melissa did (if the recipe is up now).