Lola’s Kitchen: Orzo with Pumpkin and Red Pesto Sauce Recipe

Lola’s Kitchen is a feature on Lola’s Reviews where I talk about all things related to food, cooking and baking. These posts can be recipe posts, tens list posts about food or recipes or more discussion type posts about food. I love cooking and spend some time in the kitchen almost every day, so I wanted to give it a place on my blog as well. The banner for this feature is designed by Michelle from Limabean Designs.

I wanted to cook more with orzo, so I went to Pinterest and found some possible recipes. I liked the idea of one for using pumpkin, but thought the sauce wouldn’t have enough taste. I came up with the idea for a sauce using red pesto as basis and it turned out well.

This recipe is very loosely based on Vikalinka’s Creamy Orzo Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash recipe which gave me the idea of adding pumpkin to orzo. I came up with most of the rest of the recipe.

Ingredients

• Butternut Squash – 1
• Orzo – 1 cup dried orzo
• Red Bell Pepper – 2
• Carrots – 4
• Low Salt Bouillon Cubes – 2
• Red pesto – 4.5 teaspoons
• Spinach – about 2 cups
• Onion – 2
• Garlic – 5 gloves
• Mild chili pasta (sambal badjak) – 1 teaspoon
• Dried Oregano – 1 teaspoon
• Dried Thyme – 2 teaspoons
• Olive Oil

Method

1. First peel the garlic and slice in in small pieces or use a garlic press. Slice and dice the onion as well and put it in the wok or pan with some olive oil. Don’t heat it yet.
2. Now get started on the other vegetables. Peel the squash and slice in bite sized pieces. Slice the red bell peppers and carrots as well.
3. Then heat the olive oil and bake the onion and garlic till the onion is translucent.
4. Now add the red bell pepper and carrots and bake for a few minutes. Then add the pumpkin and cover it with water. Add the thyme, oregano, bouillon cubes, red pesto and mild chili paste as well. Cook the whole thing for 20 minutes.
5. After the 20 minutes, add the cup of orzo and gently stir and let it cook for 10 minutes.
6. In the meantime slice the spinach and add to the pan once the 10 minutes are almost over. Once the spinach is soft you can serve it.

What’s your favorite way to eat pumpkin?