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Roasted Tomato Orzotto with Brown Butter Sage

Whether you serve this rich but bright orzotto dish as a main meal, or as a first course or side dish, you will be making it again and again! Bright roasted cherry tomatoes, brown butter, crispy sage all lend their flavours to this creamy pasta dish.
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine North American
Keyword brown butter, cherry tomatoes, orzotto, sage
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes two on the vine if you like
  • 2 tbsp olive oil divided
  • salt and pepper

Tomato Orzotto

  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1-2 medium garlic cloves minced (as per your desire)
  • 1 tsp salt divided, more as needed
  • 1 tsp black pepper divided
  • 1/2 cup white wine see Notes
  • 1 cup tomato purée can also use freshly grated tomatoes to make the one cup
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock plus more as needed
  • 8 oz orzo or 225 grams
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese or more if desired
  • pinch Espelette pepper optional

Brown Butter Sage Sauce

  • 6 tbsp butter cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 16 fresh sage leaves patted dry

Instructions

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

  1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
  2. Lay out the cherry tomatoes on a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat well.
  3. Bake in the oven till just taking on a burnish and starting to burst, 20-30 minutes. Set aside till needed.

Tomato Orzotto

  1. Heat the olive oil in a braiser or large pot over medium heat.
  2. Add the chopped onion, cook until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another minute. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
  3. Add the orzo and stir through the onion and oil, ensuring to coat the pasta well, about one minute.
  4. Add the white wine to the orzo, onions and garlic. Stir through and let cook till the wine is absorbed.
  5. Add the tomato puree and stir through.
  6. Add 3 cups of the chicken stock to the pot, and bring to a boil.
  7. Cover and reduce the heat to low, but still maintaining a gentle simmer.

  8. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the orzo is almost cooked through, and most of the liquid has been absorbed by the orzo. Regularly stir the pot gently, pulling at everything settling at the bottom of the pot, to avoid it from scorching.

  9. If the pasta isn't tender yet, continue cooking with the lid off after the 10 minutes. If most of the liquid has been absorbed, add more stock, a little at a time to keep the orzotto creamy. Better to have just a bit too much liquid, than have the orzotto finish dry and clumpy.

  10. Just before serving, scatter in the remaining salt, pepper and parmesan cheese and stir through. Taste and re-season as desired. Top with the roasted cherry tomatoes, the crispy sage leaves and the brown butter drizzle. For a bright kick, sprinkle with Espelette pepper. Garnish with more cheese at the table.

Brown Butter Sage

  1. When the orzotto almost finished you can make the brown butter sage.
  2. In a small sauté or sauce pan, heat the butter over medium low heat.
  3. As soon as it starts to foam up, add the sage leaves and cook together for about 3-5 minutes.
  4. The butter will foam and turn brown. Don't stir or touch at this point.
  5. When the foam subsides, remove the pan from the heat. The sage should be crispy.
  6. Set the sage aside.
  7. If serving the orzotto from the pot, just drizzle the butter over everything. Gently stir in.
  8. If serving it in a presentation bowl of some sort, transfer to the bowl and then drizzle with the butter. Gently stir in.
  9. Place the sage leaves all over the orzotto. Or save some for each individual serving.
  10. You can finish with a final amount of parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of salt and pepper

  11. See blog post for more details.