Baked lemony fennel orzo with rocket pesto
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 4
This summery caramelised fennel orzo is a simple yet delicious one-pan dish that's great for easy weekend hosting. It's light and fresh but packs in plenty of plant points and fibre from all of the veggies and chickpeas.
Each serving provides 776 kcal, 27.5g protein, 75.9g carbohydrate (of which 5.8g sugars), 36.2g fat (of which 4.6g saturates), 16.5g fibre and 5.1g salt.
Ingredients
For the orzo
- 2 fennel bulbs (about 500g/1lb 2oz), each trimmed and cut into 8 small wedges with cores intact, fronds reserved for pesto
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp white miso paste (see recipe tips)
- 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
- ½ tsp vegetable bouillon powder
- 300g/10½oz orzo
- 400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 50g/1¾oz baby spinach
- 170g/5¾oz jarred marinated artichokes (drained weight)
- ½ lemon, sliced into thin rounds
For the rocket pesto
- 30g/1oz pine nuts
- 30g/1oz rocket (or fresh basil, fresh flatleaf parsley or mixture fresh soft herbs), finely chopped
- reserved fennel fronds (see above), chopped
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp Aleppo pepper (optional)
Method
To make the orzo, preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7.
Place the fennel wedges in a large 28cm/11in round flameproof baking or cast-iron dish over a high heat. Drizzle over the oil and 1 teaspoon salt. Char the fennel for about 5 minutes on each side until caramelised.
Pour 750ml/1¼ pint boiling water into a large jug and whisk in the miso, mustard, bouillon powder and 1½ teaspoon salt to make a broth.
Add the broth, orzo, chickpeas, spinach and artichokes to the dish and stir. Place the lemon slices over the orzo. Cover tightly with a lid or silver foil and bake for 25 mins, then remove the lid and bake for another 5 mins, until the liquid has been mostly absorbed (there should be a little left in the bottom, which will stop the orzo from drying as it cools).
Meanwhile, to make the pesto, toast the pine nuts on a baking sheet on the lower shelf of the oven for about 5 minutes, or until golden.
Mix the rocket, reserved fennel fronds, toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, oil and Aleppo pepper (if using) in a bowl.
Drizzle the pesto over the orzo and serve.
Recipe tips
Miso paste is available in many different types (white, red, brown etc). White has the mildest flavour and is the most common (it's actually a creamy light-brown colour). Some supermarkets sell jars labelled as a generic 'miso paste' which will be white miso and suitable for this recipe.
