Creamy Artichoke Orzo

A fantastic side or a comforting main dish this rice is a hit. The rice still gets creamy like risotto but stays firm and plump, a little less melt in your mouth and more like a good solid meal.

Ingredients:
2 cups vegetable stock (good stuff, not cheap stuff)
2 cups Chicken stock
1½ cups orzo
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (or mixed Italian cheeses)
6 large artichoke hearts, chopped (14 oz can)
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Black pepper, to taste
Optional herbs**

**You could easily add any number of fresh herbs and this would go well. So when your finished, give it a taste and if you have something on hand, feel free to add it.

Servings: 4 meal sized servings, 8 side dish size servings

Instructions:
In a small saucepan, bring vegetable stock to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.

In a saute pan, add orzo, olive oil, salt, and 2 cups of simmering stock, over medium-low heat. Continue adding stock, ½ cup at a time, stirring often for about 25-30 minutes, letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next until orzo is tender and creamy.

Turn off heat and stir in Parmesan, artichokes, chives, and walnuts. Season to taste with pepper and nutmeg. Serve immediately.

Recipe From: www.babble.com

This is a fantastic main meal or as a side to a nice herbed chicken. It is also much easier and a bit less time consuming that risotto. Even Jason enjoyed the combination of simple flavors, though he did add a tiney drip of Blairs Hot Sauce, but he puts that on everything. I am beginning to be less grossly insulted by this, I just assume his tongue is retarded. He also enjoys crap food as much as he enjoys good food, sometimes I think I married the wrong stomach. In any case this rice dish would even be fantastic without the cheese if you want to please a vegan crowd.

I used my homemade vegetable stock that I had in the freezer and reduced sodium chicken stock from a carton. I think if you used crappy stock alone you would end up with mediocre rice. So make sure your stock tastes good. Even if you just doctor up some canned stock from the store, make sure it is tasty stuff.

If you have access to frozen artichokes, which I do not, this might work out even better than canned. But the canned ones in water worked just fine for me. Don't leave out the chives, they do add something to this dish more than just a splash of color.