Caprese Orzo Bake
Our New Weekly Go-To Meal…
So about a month ago, our hob broke. Yes, full-on broke, no spark nothing. This left us spending a few weeks only cooking with the oven. Tired of going to the same recipes all the time, I went looking for some inspo and thus, this caprese orzo bake was born.
Originally, I found this tomato, orzo bake recipe in a magazine but had to switch out some of the ingredients. As a lover of Italian food, I leaned towards the fresh tastes and complementary foods to the tomatoes. Honestly, this recipe was thrown together one night. No planning. It was going to be a write-off dish but my husband fell in love with it. Head over heels.
When I showed this dish off on Instagram, so many of you were asking for the recipe. And as this blog has slowly become the holder of all our family recipes (I really need to get a recipe box) I had to commit it to paper. This caprese orzo bake is perfect for mid-week or prepping ahead of time. I feel this would be very family friendly, the level of cheese is what is going to convince the littles to try it.
Caprese Orzo Bake.
Now with this recipe, you could really switch out it to meet your needs. Go more mediterranean or add in veggies that your family love. Yo ucan even change up the cheese. Whatever suits you and your family. This is perfect for the summer, but it’s one that I think we’ll whip out 365 days of the year.
Caprese Orzo Bake
Ingredients
- 3 cups cherry tomatoes
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 shallot
- ⅓ cup fresh basil
- chilli flakes
- salt & pepper
- 450 g orzo pasta
- 3 tbsp green pesto
- 500 g shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 C. In a baking dish, combine the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, shallots, basil, chilli flakes, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Add the orzo and pesto. Pour over 2 1/2 cups of water and stir to combine. Return the dish to the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes, until most of the water has cooked into the pasta, but not all of it.
- Stir the pasta around, then sprinkle over the cheese. Bake another 10 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the sauce bubbling. If there's a lot of oil from the pesto on top, drain off the excess. Top with fresh basil!