Creamy Parmesan Orzo with Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper

We came home on Friday. I walked into our new apartment — the two-bedroom in Southie, which Sean D. had mostly moved into while I was finishing packing my old place before the wedding — and it smelled like coffee and the particular combination of his things and my things occupying the same space, which is a smell that will take a while to become completely natural but which already felt more right than anything I expected. There's a kitchen with a window over the sink that looks out at the street and morning light comes through it at an angle that turns everything gold for about fifteen minutes, and I stood there and thought: this is home. This is what home is now.

Back to work Monday. The floor was as I left it, which is to say: complicated, necessary, full of people who are fighting and people who are grieving and people who are doing both simultaneously. My colleagues had put up a small sign that said "Welcome Back, Mrs. Donovan" and I stood there for a moment with two conflicting reactions — the professional nurse reaction, which is that the last name didn't change on the job, and the private reaction, which is that I teared up immediately and then had to go to the supply closet to pull it together. I kept my last name at work. I'm still Kate Donovan by birth. The irony of marrying a man with the same last name is that nothing on my ID changed at all, but everything in my life did.

Sunday dinner at Maureen's — the first one as a married person, which is structurally identical to Sunday dinner as an unmarried person because the Donovan Sunday dinner does not change, but which felt different in a way I can't fully articulate. Sean D. knows his way around the kitchen at the three-decker now. He knows which cabinet the good dishes are in and he knows that Sean Sr. takes his coffee black and he knows to ask Maureen about work before asking about anything else, because for Maureen work is the entry point. He is paying attention. He always pays attention. I picked the right one.

I made my first meal in our new kitchen Saturday night: pasta with a simple tomato sauce, garlic and San Marzano tomatoes and olive oil and nothing else. Perfect, because it was mine and his and ours.

The pasta I made that first Saturday was as simple as I could make it — garlic, San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, nothing more — because the point wasn’t the recipe, it was the kitchen and the window and the two of us in the same space at the end of a very long week of becoming. This creamy parmesan orzo is what I’ve been reaching for since then: it’s a little more built-out, a little more of a proper dinner, but it has the same quality that mattered most that night — it comes together quietly, without fuss, in one pan, and it tastes like something that belongs to you.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups dry orzo pasta
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup whole milk or half-and-half
1 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped
3 cups baby spinach, loosely packed
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh basil or flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Instructions

Bloom the garlic. Warm the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or wide saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for about 90 seconds until fragrant and just beginning to turn golden. Watch the heat — garlic goes from golden to bitter quickly.
Toast the orzo. Add the dry orzo directly to the pan and stir to coat in the garlicky oil. Toast for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the orzo smells nutty and a few pieces have taken on a faint golden color. This step adds depth to a simple dish.
Add the broth and simmer. Pour in the chicken broth and increase the heat to bring it to a gentle boil. Stir, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the orzo is just tender and has absorbed most of the broth. It should look creamy, not dry.
Stir in the dairy. Pour in the milk or half-and-half and stir to combine. Let it cook for another 1 to 2 minutes over low heat until the sauce looks silky and cohesive.
Add the peppers and spinach. Stir in the roasted red peppers and the baby spinach in two or three handfuls, letting each addition wilt slightly before adding the next. This takes about 2 minutes total.
Finish with Parmesan. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the grated Parmesan. Season generously with salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes if using. The residual heat will melt the cheese into a smooth, glossy sauce.
Serve immediately. Divide into bowls and top with additional Parmesan and fresh herbs. This dish is best eaten right away while the sauce is at its creamiest.

Nutrition (per serving)

Creamy Parmesan Orzo with Spinach & Roasted Red Pepper — The First Meal We Made Ours