A delicious Greek orzo one-skillet dinner

When you don't feel like cooking too many dishes for a complete meal, one-dish skillet recipes are your best friend. I just love the convenience of getting my protein, carbs and veggies in one dish....and I especially love not having to wash so many dishes!

I was inspired by a New York Times recipe for a one-pan orzo with spinach and feta dish that was in turn inspired by traditional Greek spanakórizo, a combination of fresh spinach & herbs and rice. The idea of using pasta in that traditional dish wasn't new to us, since we'd played with our own spanakotrahanóto, using trahana instead of rice. But the NYT recipe made me think of Agrozimi's spelt orzo (kritharáki in Greek), a lower-gluten vegan alternative to traditional egg & milk orzo, that works beautifully with sauces and veggies. I really like how Agrozimi owners, Kostas & Yiorgos Martalvatzoglou, take traditional Greek pasta and give it a contemporary twist, in this case by using spelt flour (also called dinkel or farro in Europe).

I love this skillet dinner because it doesn't use meat but a good dose of crumbled feta for extra calcium and protein. I went for the convenience of frozen spinach, rather than fresh, but you can use either. Substitute the feta with a vegan cheese and you have a flavorful, comforting and healthy vegan meal.

Let me know what your favorite skillet dinners are and if you've experimented with any of our all-natural Greek products - we'd love to share your recipe!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Tragano Greek Organics extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, grated

2-3 cloves garlic, grated

1 1/2 cup vegetable stock or warm water

1 lb frozen spinach

1 cup Agrozimi spelt orzo

1 cup chopped dill or 1 tbsp of Sparoza's 15 Greek herbs & seeds

1/2 cup crumbled feta

Salt and pepper

Make the one-dish skillet dinner with spelt orzo, spinach & feta

Warm the olive oil in a 10 inch skillet on medium heat.

Add the onion and sauté 1-2 minutes until translucent.

Add the garlic and stir for another minute.

If you are using fresh spinach, add the spinach and stir until it's wilted. If you are using frozen spinach, add it to the pan and raise the temperature to high.

Add the stock and bring to a boil.

Add the orzo, give it a good stir and lower the temperature to medium-low. Cover and let it simmer for 12-15 minutes until the liquid is absorbed but the dish is not dried out.

Stir in the herbs and feta cheese and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Buy the zelos products to make this recipe