Caprese Orzo Bake

All the flavours of a caprese salad - tomato, basil and mozzarella - transformed into a creamy orzo bake. Orzo is a rice shaped pasta that’s a great standby ingredient to have in your store cupboard. Cooking this dish in one pan will also save on the washing up - winning!

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Ingredients

fresh basil 1 handful
bell pepper 1 (sliced)
cherry tomatoes 200 g (halved)
orzo 300 g
garlic granules 2 tsp
vegetable stock cube 1
tomato passata 500 g
red wine vinegar ½ tbsp
mozzarella cheese ball 250 g (torn)

Method

Pick the basil leaves and chop the basil stalks, then keep them separate. Deseed and thinly slice the bell pepper. We’ve used a red bell pepper here, you can use whichever colour you prefer or have. Halve the cherry tomatoes.
Heat a dash of oil in an ovenproof pan. Alternatively you can cook it in a pan and then transfer to an ovenproof dish for step 7. Add the cherry tomatoes,bell pepper and the basil stalks and fry for 2 minutes, then stir in the orzo and garlic granules. Cook the orzo for 2 minutes, this helps to toast it to add extra flavour, stirring occasionally.
Make up the stock cube with 100 ml boiling water per serving. Pour the stock into the pan, along with the passata and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the orzo is cooked through.
When the orzo is nearly cooked, heat the grill to high.
Stir in the red wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Adding a dash of vinegar helps to cut through the richness of the cheese.
Tear the mozzarella into pieces then scatter on top of the orzo with half the basil leaves.
Slide under the grill until golden and bubbling, around 5 - 7 minutes. Scatter the rest of the basil leaves on top then plate up and enjoy!

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Caprese Orzo Bake

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