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Mushroom Orzo with Brown Butter Crispy Sage Leaves

An easy and simple pasta dish that celebrates all things mushroom. Rather like a risotto, but with less cooking time, you will love serving this up with the crispy sage leaves. It makes a great weekday meal, or even a side to an Autumn feast!
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine North American
Keyword brown butter sage, mushroom orzo, orzo
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Mushroom Orzo, for four

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 large shallot finely diced
  • 2-3 medium garlic cloves minced
  • 3 cups cleaned, trimmed and sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 12 oz (340 grams) dried orzo
  • 1/2 cup white wine, optional, but makes a difference in flavour!
  • 4 cups of chicken stock can use vegetable stock if desired, may need more depending on how creamy you like the final texture.
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • dried chilli flakes for finish
  • lemon juice for finish

Brown Butter Sage Sauce

  • 6 tbsp butter cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 16 large fresh sage leaves patted dry, use more leaves if they are smaller

Instructions

Mushroom Orzo

  1. In a large skillet or braiser, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic. Stir till they are just starting to turn translucent, about 6-8 minutes.

  2. Add the mushrooms. Continue to stir, softening the mushrooms evenly. Stir for about two minutes till they start to form a crust.

  3. Add in the orzo pasta. Stir the pasta in the fats and vegetables till evenly coated. After about two minutes the pasta should start to be toasted.
  4. Add the white wine and cook down, stirring to ensure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the skillet.

  5. Once the wine has almost completely reduced, add two cups of the broth. Stir through, and let everything simmer. At this point you can also add 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper.

  6. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add two more cups. Stir and simmer. If you find that the items at the bottom of the skillet are starting to stick, you can reduce the heat to medium low.

  7. You may need a third cup of stock to get the pasta to fully cooked. Test the pasta and then add in. Feel free to use the third cup or even a bit more to get it extra creamy like a true risotto.

  8. Once the pasta is fully cooked through, remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the grated cheese. Finish with dried chilli flakes to your desire, as well as fresh cracked pepper. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and the Brown Butter Crispy Sage.

Brown Butter Crispy Sage

  1. While the orzotto is simmering 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. Serve the orzo from the skillet, just drizzle the butter over everything. Top with the sage leaves. Do the same if serving up the orzo in individual bowls or plates.
  8. See blog post for more details.

Recipe Notes

Feel free to use your favourite grating cheese in this dish. Peccorino, Grana Padano, even Gouda will all work!
If you want to serve this dish in the springtime, omit the Brown Butter Sage and just use finely chopped thyme and parsley.

This dish is can easily be prepared for two or even one. I like 3 oz of orzo per person for this dish, since it does eat like a meal as opposed to just a side dish.