Thursday, June 17, 2010

Orzo and Vegetable Bake - Italian Style...

Last night I looked in the fridge, saw what was there and invented this Italian style bake. My kids absolutely loved it. They begged me to put it on the blog and enter into the Vegetarian Times recipe contest :) Well, I dunno about that one... This is a super fast easy way to treat your family to some Italian style comfort food. It takes less than 1/2 hour.

Orzo and Vegetable Bake - Italian Style...

You'll need:

1 box of orzo 12 oz or 16 oz
1 eggplant, cut in 1 inch cubes
About 3 cups of organic spinach
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup of grated Parm cheese (can be less)
Salt, pepper, olive oil

You can use any combination of vegetables for this. I would imagine bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, cannellini beans etc would work just fine. Sprinkle eggplant with salt and let it sit in a colander for about 30 min (feel free to skip this step is pressed for time). Boil pasta. While the pasta is cooking, heat oil in a sauté pan, add eggplant and cook until barely soft - a couple of minutes. Add spinach and cook, stirring, until wilts. Add the sauce, mix well and bring to boil. Drain pasta and transfer to a large Pyrex casserole dish. Spread in an even layer. Top with the vegetable mix, sprinkle with cheeses and bake until the cheese melts. About 15 minutes. Enjoy!