Orzo Pasta with Squash, Kale, Pancetta and Pecorino Cheese

If you're looking for something easy and tasty, we've covered it!

Butternut squash, peeled and diced, pan roasted then added to toasted orzo pasta.

Kale, pancetta a squeeze of lemon and coarsley grated pecorino cheese finish the dish.

I like pan roasting squash, it's convenient and only takes around 10 minutes to become tender.

Timings are convenient as the cooked squash can be tipped into the orzo and hang out with the other ingredients.  The uncooked kale can also be added straight into the simmering orzo, it will become tender in around 5 minutes.  Perfect.

If you're new to orzo, it really is handy to have in the cupboard, it cooks up quickly and is very useful for using up 'bits and pieces' in the fridge.

Ingredients (2):

4 rashers of smoked pancetta (or dry cure streaky bacon rashers), chopped

200g peeled and diced squash (butternut here).  We want it fairly small as the pasta shape is small. 1.5 cm by 1 cm approximately.

2 large handfuls of shredded raw kale

Juice of 1/4 lemon

40g coarsly grated pecorino cheese

20g butter

1 cup orzo

2 cups hot stock (1/2 vegetable, 1/2 chicken)

Method:

Crisp the pancetta/bacon and remove.

Pour half the bacon fat into a pan for the orzo and add the diced squash to the remaining fat.

Pan roast the squash, lid on, low heat, for about 10 minutes.  We're looking for tender squash that isn't coloured.

Meanwhile, add butter to the other pan then orzo and toast the orzo (medium heat) for 2 or 3 minutes.

Add stock to the orzo and stir.

Simmer the orzo for around 5 minutes, add kale, the cooked pancetta and lemon juice and cook for around 4 minutes (lid off) then stir in the cooked squash and cook for a further 1 or 2 minutes.

It's ready when the pasta is just coated in liquid.

Serve with coarsley grated pecorino cheese.

More Orzo Pasta:

Orzo with Winter Squash and Blue Cheese