Made this dish last night from a recipe in the NYT. When I began cooking it, the recipe seemed like it was going to be a breeze. Cut up the vegetables and throw them with the orzo, bake and you have the meal. Well it was a little bit more complicated than that because most of the vegetables needed to be cooked beforehand. So the prep took quite a while, about forty minutes. I think we then shortchanged the baking a little bit because it was getting late and Mrs. gorgeous and I were hungry.The orzo had a lot of flavor especially with all the cooked vegetables, which is a necessary though lengthy process. Frying the vegetables in a small amount of oil beforehand softens them up and brings out there flavor that mixes in with the orzo well. I also think that baking it slightly longer would have been good. The orzo was cooked beforehand in water, and I thought baking would have added a little crunch but I do not think we had quite gotten there yet.
Another note: I think if I were to cook it again I would double the recipe so that there were more leftovers. Only going to get about four plates total out of the recipe (though NYT says serves six) and it would be nice for the effort put in to get a little more return. Mr. and Ms. duke/environmental science, check out that baking pan.
