Creamy leek and nduja orzo recipe
“That’s it,” I declared on Sunday night as we cleared away the remnants of a roast chicken. “We are not buying any more food this week. We’re just going to cook with what we already have. I’m not going to the shops, I’m not even buying a sniff of a vegetable until we’ve used the dregs in the veg drawer.”
There were four ends of cream in the fridge, for crying out loud. There were also at least three different kinds of half-eaten veg (why I felt the need to pick up a second cabbage on Sunday when we already had one, I don’t know), a bag of potatoes and about 12 nubs of cheese.
With all the odds and ends in the freezer and the store cupboard, we could get trapped in the flat for a month and not go hungry.
Five days in and we’ve done surprisingly well with our fridge foraging. Monday night was a really good cheesy cauliflower rigatoni; Tuesday there was a curry made with the remaining cauliflower and lots of potato, with half a bag of rather wilted spinach, the ends of a jar of passata and the last spoonful of mango chutney thrown in with plenty of spices, stock and lime juice.
On Wednesday night, it was reinvented with a handful of slightly ropey cavolo nero, which had been shredded and fried with butter, curry leaves and black mustard seeds.
A leek left over from last week’s Friday night dinner, some nduja from the week before, and one of those ends of cream have made it into this very delicious, comforting orzo. You finely chop the leeks so that they sweat down nice and small, cooking them in plenty of butter.
A little garlic, a good spoonful of nduja (though you could use chorizo or another spicy porky thing – whatever you prefer), plenty of lemon and a lick of tangy crème fra?che make a sauce which has a nice balance of sweet leeks and fiery chilli.
It’s the silkiest bowlful and a perfect end to the week with a glass of something cold.
Timings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
400g orzo
50g butter
Olive oil
2 large leeks, finely chopped
A garlic clove, finely sliced
4 tsp nduja
2 lemons, juiced
2 tbsp crème fra?che
Parmesan, for serving
Method
Set the water on to boil for the orzo. Salt the water well and cook the orzo until al dente. Drain and reserve a little of the cooking water.
For the sauce, set a large frying pan over a medium heat with the butter and olive oil. When the butter has melted, add the leeks and a good pinch of salt. Stir and pop the lid on. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until well softened. Add the garlic and leave to cook for a minute.
Add the nduja and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring to break it up. Then add the lemon juice and plenty of black pepper.
Turn the heat down under the sauce. Add the orzo and pasta water and stir well. Then turn the heat off and add the crème fra?che. Stir and pour the orzo onto a warmed serving dish or straight into pasta bowls. Top with plenty of parmesan.
