Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Pork Soup with Orzo

A ladle of hot soup. Anyone ?
Bring on your plates !

The veggies after being sauteed.

The meat with some water.

I was craving my original soup...with pork. And of course with my all time favorite past : ORZO. It does not take a lot of time to prepare and it keeps really well in the fridge - but you have got to remember the trick - under cook the pasta as it will soften ore sitting in the broth.
You will not need to run to the store to purchase chicken or vegatable or any other kind of stock/broth as I will teach you how to develop the full flavor of this soup only from its wholesome ingredients.
Trust me on this - I have made enough soup to know by now.
Ready ?

Ingredients:
1/3 cup dry orzo (uncooked)
4 slices of boneless pork loin (the more, the better)
1 carrot
1/2 parsnip
1 bell pepper, any color
2 tomatoes
1 onion, any kind you have
5 to 7 cups of cold water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
5 TBSP oil (3 for the veggies and 2 for the meat)
1/2 teaspoon hamburger seasoning
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
dash of Italian seasoning
***more or less seasoning should be used according to anyone's personal taste
***the size of the vegetables is really according to you liking (use medium or large) - but I always use medium size

Directions:
Put the meat on a cutting board and with a sharp knife cut it into dice-sized pieces or larger if you wish so.
Heat the 2 TBSP of oil in a soup pot or a medium size saucepan that will hold approx. 10 cups of water, and add the meat.
Cook on medium-high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until it looks done.
Add 2 cups of the water and let simmer on low heat.
In the meantime, wash and chop the veggies and sautee them in the 3 TBSP of oil that you have left, in a large skillet then add the seasonings.
It should not take more that 5-10 minutes on medium high heat.
In fact, try to have the meat and the veggies cook at the same time.
When the 10 minutes have passed, add the veggies to the meat and almost all the water at once.
Bring to a boil and from the moment it starts to boil, reduce the heat to simmer on low and let it cook for 10 minutes.
Add the orzo and boil it for 4 to 6 minutes, but make sure you taste it and it should be al dente (if you cook it for too long or if it is cooked for 8 to 10 minutes, it will become mushy by the next day - however try the orzo before having a serving).
And you're done.
Taste every now and then and adjust the salt and pepper level to your liking.
The pasta will still cook a bit more after you turn the heat off.
Ad the end add 1-2 handfuls of chopped cilantro.
It gives this soup a great kick.
YUM.

4 comments:

  1. great to know that under cooking pasta works

    ReplyDelete
  2. You made a good point with your tip, and your tip has solved my soggy pasta delima. Pasta in soups seem to get soggy fast.

    ReplyDelete