I like to gather my herbs before beginning meal preparation. I usually just go out and cut a handful of whatever herbs I think will go well with the meal. This selection included marjoram, tarragon, lemon verbena, chives and parsley.
My next step is usually prepping the vegetables. I had some fresh garden peas and small small orange and red sweet peppers and some mushrooms in the fridge. After rinsing the vegetables I cut the stems from the pea pods and cut the peppers in half removing the seeds. The next step was to de stem the herbs. Using herbal scissors I cut the herbs into smaller pieces and added them to the rinsed vegetables. Toss the Vegetables with about 2 tablespoons of lemon olive oil and set aside. Add the sliced mushrooms and toss again.
Add 1 cup of Orzo (small pasta) to about 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Cook for 5 – 7 minutes until al dente and drain. Return pasta to pan and immediately add 1 tablespoon of lemon olive oil, zest of one lemon and juice of one lemon. Stir to combine. If you don’t have lemon olive oil just use a good quality regular olive oil and add a little more lemon zest.
Stir in 1/4 – 1/2 cup parmesan or Romano grated cheese and combine. Return lid to pot.
While pasta is cooking place vegetables in a grill basket and grill on the barbecue. It doesn’t take long…just a few minutes. You want the vegetables slightly blackened but not soft. They need to have a little crunch.
Serve the rice in a pasta bowl and add the vegetables. Toss and enjoy. You can add more cheese, if you like. The lemon flavor is really refreshing and the herbs flavor the entire dish. You can add salt and pepper to taste. We find the herbs add so much flavor you don’t need salt or pepper.
Add a fresh garden salad…. this one is two types of lettuce, spinach, celery carrots, green onion and cherry tomatoes.
… a mixed bouquet of flowers from the garden, and you have a delicious, healthy and beautiful dinner.
Enjoy!