COOK: Orzo with White Bean, Preserved Lemon & Radish
- White Bean Orzo One-Pot Meal Ingredients
- Kitchen Equipment Needed
- How to Make One-Pot Orzo with White Beans, Preserved Lemon, & Radishes
- Orzo with White Bean, Preserved Lemon, & Radish
This white bean orzo makes hearty one-pot supper, flavored with piquant salted lemon pickle, and crisp radishes. It comes together quickly, and you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less!
Have you ever wondered what to do with the tops of those cute little bundles of fresh radishes with the greens still on? This recipe uses the radish tops, which are rich in vitamins and have a spicy, sharp flavor, similar to mustard greens or arugula.
If you can’t find these fresh radish bundles in your grocery store or farmer’s market (or grow them in your garden), you can substitute fresh parsley, or a number of other greens (see the ingredients section, below).
To make your one-pot orzo a more substantial meal, you can add roasted chicken or tuna to add even more protein (about 22 grams per serving with a cup of diced chicken added!). Or, you can keep it plain for a simple vegetarian entree, or a rich and hearty side dish with fresh Mediterranean flavors.
White Bean Orzo One-Pot Meal Ingredients
Chicken or Vegetable Stock:
Good flavored commercial or homemade stock or broth. Use vegetable stock for a vegetarian version, or either if you are including roasted chicken.
A tablespoon of good quality chicken or vegetable base added to the stock gives even more depth of flavor and umami. You could also use miso, if you don’t have base or bouillon powder.
Orzo Pasta:
Orzo is a small pasta (or pastina) shaped like large grains of rice. It cooks quickly, and makes a comforting dish with a creamy risotto-like texture.
Fresh Radishes with Green Tops (or other greens):
I wrote this recipe to use fresh radishes, bought in bundles with the tops on, or fresh from the garden. If you can’t find radishes with the tops on, you can use any bitter and tender greens, like arugula, escarole, kale, mustard greens, or even spinach for a milder version.
Radish greens have a tendency to be gritty or sandy, so make sure you soak and wash them well before chopping them for this recipe.
Preserved Lemon:
Salt-pickled lemon, either Meyer or regular lemon pickles will do. If you don’t have any preserved lemon, you can substitute the zest from one lemon and a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice, plus some capers or briny green or kalamata olives to approximate the tang of pickled lemons.
White Beans:
You’ll need one cup of drained canned white or cannelloni beans, or soaked and cooked dried beans. This recipe is also tasty with chickpeas (garbanzos) if you don’t have white beans on hand.
You can use navy beans, regular white beans, or the larger and meatier Italian cannelloni beans, cooked to tender, or commercially or homemade canned beans.
Alliums:
You’ll need half of a large onion (or one small onion), small diced, and about three cloves of garlic. If you need to disguise it for picky eaters or prefer less texture, you can mince the onion.
Either way, the onion is sauteed in a bit of olive oil or butter to start building the flavor for this dish. You don’t want to brown the onion, but rather sweat it until it’s translucent and mellow.
Once it begins to take on a bit of color, add three large peeled and minced cloves of garlic and saute just until fragrant. Don’t let the garlic burn, or it will be bitter! You can add more garlic if you like, or adjust the quantity if your cloves are very small.
Kitchen Equipment Needed
cutting board and sharp knife:
I like to use a large wooden or bamboo cutting board with plenty of room to prep all of my ingredients. If you only have a small cutting board, you’ll need to move your prepped veggies and other ingredients to small prep bowls, or a sheet pan.
Use whatever style of knife you feel most comfortable with, and keep it sharp!
Wide pot with a lid:
One and a half or two quart pot with a well-fitting lid and a heavy bottom so that your orzo doesn’t scorch while it cooks. If you don’t have a lid for your pot, you can improvise one with a sheet pan.
Heat resistant spatula or wooden spoon:
Stir the orzo periodically while it cooks to help keep it from sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot.
How to Make One-Pot Orzo with White Beans, Preserved Lemon, & Radishes
prep ingredients:
- Wash and trim the radishes. Pick over the greens and toss any that are slimy or not fresh. It’s ok if they’re a little wilted.
- Soak the greens if they are at all gritty or dirty, and change the water a few times until they’re clean. Pat them dry with a clean towel, or spin them dry.
- Bundle or roll and chop the radish greens. Slice the tougher stem ends of the greens very fine. You can make a coarser cut for the more tender tips of the greens, or mince them all.
- Slice the radishes thinly, or chop them if you want more crunch.
- Peel and mince the onion and garlic.
- Chop the preserved lemon peel, discarding any seeds or tough membranes.
- Dissolve the chicken or veggie base/bouillon in the stock.
saute onions & garlic:
- Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil or butter in the pan, and saute the chopped onion with a pinch of salt until it begins to take on some color.
- Add the freshly ground black pepper, coriander and garlic and saute for another minute or two.
- Add the dry orzo to the pot and toast it for a few minutes, along with the dried herbs and preserved lemon.
- If you are adding uncooked chicken, add about one cup of cubed raw chicken breasts or thighs to the pot after sauteing the orzo, and before adding the broth.
- Cut the cubes less than 2″ in size and saute briefly before pouring in the broth, and they should be cooked through by the time the orzo is done. Cut one of the larger pieces open to check that it is opaque and cooked through before serving.
add stock & simmer:
- Add the stock and base to the pot, cover, and bring up to a simmer over medium low heat.
- Add the chopped greens and white beans to the pot and fold them in, stirring periodically and recovering the pot to retain moisture.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the orzo is cooked through and the mixture is thick and creamy.
add radishes & optional protein:
- If you’re adding diced cooked rotisserie, roasted, or canned chicken or tuna, fold that in now, and then top the pot with the diced or thinly sliced raw radishes.
- You can also simmer the radishes lightly with the orzo (adding them earlier) if you want a milder radish flavor and less crunch, though the color may bleed a bit and be less vibrant.
Serve warm. This simple orzo dish is also good served cold or gently reheated the next day, or on a bed of crisp greens as a hearty lunch salad or as the base for a grain-bowl with pickled and fresh vegetables.
Orzo with White Bean, Preserved Lemon, & Radish
Ingredients
saute together:
- 2-4 tbsp olive oil or butter
- ½ large onion peeled, minced or small dice
- 3 large garlic cloves peeled & chopped
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp flaky kosher salt or to taste, use less if you are using fine salt
- ¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper or to taste
add next:
- 2 cups dry orzo pasta
- ¼ cup preserved Meyer or regular lemon peel minced or chopped fine
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
cooking liquid:
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 tbsp chicken or vegetable base or bouillon cube
add to cooked orzo:
- 1½ cups radish greens, washed and chopped (substitute arugula, chard, or other tender bitter greens, or ¾ cup fresh parsley leaves)
- 1 cup cooked white beans (one standard can, drained)
- 1 cup diced rotisserie or roasted chicken (optional)
- ½ cup thinly sliced or diced fresh radish
Instructions
prep ingredients:
- Wash and trim the radishes. Pick over the greens and toss any that are slimy or not fresh. It’s ok if they’re a little wilted.
- Soak the greens if they are at all gritty or dirty, and change the water a few times until they're clean. Pat them dry with a clean towel, or spin them dry.
- Bundle or roll and chop the radish greens. Slice the tougher stem ends of the greens very fine. You can make a coarser cut for the more tender tips of the greens, or mince them all.
- Slice the radishes thinly, or chop them if you want more crunch.
- Peel and mince the onion and garlic.
- Mince the preserved lemon peel, discarding any seeds or tough membranes.
- Dissolve the chicken or veggie base/bouillon in the stock.
saute onions & garlic:
- Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil or butter in the pan, and saute the chopped onion with a pinch of salt until it begins to take on some color.
- Add the freshly ground black pepper, coriander and garlic and saute for another minute or two.
- Add the dry orzo to the pot and toast it for a few minutes, along with the dried herbs and preserved lemon.
add stock & simmer:
- Add the stock and base to the pot, cover, and bring up to a simmer over medium low heat.
- Add the chopped greens and white beans to the pot and fold them in, stirring periodically and recovering the pot.
- Simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the orzo is cooked through and the mixture is thick and creamy.
add radishes & optional protein:
- If you're adding diced cooked chicken, fold that in now, and then top the pot with the diced or thinly sliced raw radishes.
- You can also simmer the radishes lightly with the orzo (adding them in the previous step) if you want a milder flavor and less crunch, though the color may bleed a bit.
- Serve warm. This is also good cold the next day, or on a bed of crisp greens as a hearty lunch salad.
Notes
To use uncooked chicken:
- Add one cup of cubed raw chicken breasts or thighs to the pot after sauteing the orzo, and before adding the broth.
- Cut the cubes less than 2″ in size and saute briefly before pouring in the broth, and they should be cooked through by the time the orzo is done.
- Cut one of the larger pieces open to check that it is opaque and cooked through before serving.
Note on nutritional information:
This was calculated using 3 tbsp of olive oil, chicken base, radish greens, and adding the optional diced rotisserie chicken. All nutritional calculations are estimates and will vary based on ingredients used, cooking time, and other variables.Nutrition
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