Orzo

This dish might sound a little strange coming from me, I grant you that. But you know I wouldn’t bother with it if it didn’t make me some dough, and the concoction has won me a bunch of money in contest ancillary categories over the years. It’s a Myron Mixon original recipe if ever there was one.

This soup can be pulled together in minutes, and it’s one of the most soul-satisfying things I make. It should be very brothy so the orzo just floats in the rich, lemony broth. The pasta will absorb the broth as it sits, so serve as soon as it’s ready.

Monkfish is perfect for this recipe because it doesn’t fall apart. It has a wonderfully tender and succulent texture similar to lobster, but monkfish is less expensive. This dish is also good with other types of fish and other kinds of seafood, such as scallops, shrimp, or lobster.

Try this variation of the familiar Greek egg-lemon soup in the springtime when the first tender shoots of asparagus hit the markets.

We were happy to discover that orzo and kasha can be cooked together. When we added the rich flavor and texture of portabellas and walnuts, we knew we had a winner.

I always think of dishes made with small pasta shapes like orzo as kid food because they are easy to scoop up with a spoon—no twirling required! This is an all-around crowd-pleaser that seems to satisfy kids of all ages. It’s also quite adaptable; if your kids don’t like peppers, leave them out and add more tomatoes. Skip the hot peppers if you don’t want it too spicy; and feel free to use any kind of sausage your family enjoys.

I love to prepare and serve stuffed peppers because they make such a beautiful presentation; when you cut into them and the delicious filling spills out, it’s like getting a present. My mother is also partial to stuffed peppers, which she fills with vegetables, meat, pasta—almost anything.

In my family, baked pastas were always the crowd-pleasers, and I still love them—especially the crusty, cheesy tops. Full of cream and butter, this is a rich indulgence. Put it together a day ahead of time and bake it just before serving if you like.

In this frittata, pasta plays a supporting rather than starring role, giving the eggs a little body. It makes a very pretty, satisfying lunch served with a simple side salad.

This pleasant pasta salad is even tastier the second day. Enjoy it as an entrée for six or a side dish for twelve.

This is a meat stew with pasta. I am assured that it only tastes right if small Italian pasta called “orzo,” which look like tiny bird’s tongues or largish grains of rice, are used. In Egypt, families used to make the pasta themselves with flour and water, rolling tiny bits of dough into little ovals between their fingers. A friend recalls spending hours doing this with her brother every Sunday as a small child.

This Syrian dish is made with a type of pasta called lissan al assfour (bird’s tongues) which looks like large grains of rice. It cooks in the sauce from the chicken and acquires a rich, spicy flavor and light-brown color. You will find it in Middle Eastern stores as well as in the pasta section of supermarkets, where it is called “orzo.” An apricot sauce, salsat mishmisheya, sometimes accompanies the dish .

Fresh herbs abound here—as does niacin, an energizing B vitamin: One serving of salmon dishes up nearly 70 percent of your daily niacin needs.

Because of its shape, orzo can do nearly anything rice can do, and if you're a pasta lover, you might say orzo does it better.

A classic Greek soup that's thickened with eggs and spiked with lemon. Add some shredded rotisserie chicken and call it a meal.

Luke Ostrom is a great cook. We've worked together for a long time; we've spent long nights drinking and talking food; we even traveled through Italy together. He knows his stuff, no doubt. So when he tells me we should try something, I usually listen. But when he started going on about orzo in our opening-menu-planning sessions, I was less than enthusiastic. He loved it when he was a kid, he said. It was so soul-satisfying and delicious, he said. It would make a great side dish on our menu, he said. But I wasn't buying it. I thought orzo was the kind of comfort food you fed to children and invalids: too bland, too soft, too ... boring. Boy, was I wrong. Luke's take on orzo can definitely qualify as comfort food: it's hearty, warm, and delicious, the kind of thing you can't stop eating. But it's also grown-up and complex: the wild mushrooms give it a rich earthiness, and the orzo has a great mouth-feel. It's sort of like the mushroom risotto of your dreams—only it's way easier. It's a great match with poultry or meat; but as far as I'm concerned, ain't nothing wrong with sitting down to a big heaping bowlful of this stuff all on its own, topped with a handful of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

This satisfying vegetarian combo—a black-eyed-pea salad with tomatoes; orzo tossed with olives, red onion, and cucumber; and salty crumbles of feta cheese—sings of the Aegean sun.

Attention, dill: Please step away from the salmon. Here, the herb gets to show its versatility—and its Greek side.

Small pasta like acini di pepe and orzo make wonderful room-temperature salads, since they mix so thoroughly with the other ingredients and never go stiff. Garlic, olives, and chile flakes lend a lot of zip to this quick side dish you'll come back to all summer.