Cheesy Orzo

Cheesy Orzo

300g orzo pasta
45ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
30ml thyme leaves, chopped
250ml cream
1 lemon, grated zest and juice
250ml grated parmesan cheese
40g pine kernels, toasted

Place a large saucepan over high heat, pour in a good quantity of water and add a teaspoon of salt.
Bring to a boil, add the orzo pasta and cook until al dente.
Place a large pan on medium-high heat and add the olive oil and onion to it.
Cook until the onion is translucent.
Add the garlic and thyme and stir-fry for one minute.
Pour in the cream, turn down the heat to medium and simmer until slightly reduced – 3 minutes or so.
Add the lemon zest, lemon juice and parmesan and stir through.
Now add the drained orzo to the sauce and simmer for another 2 minutes while stirring to coat the pasta with the sauce.
Spoon the orzo on to a serving dish and scatter the pine kernels over to serve.

Parmesan Eggs

Parmesan Eggs

6 eggs
30ml butter
salt, pepper, smoked sweet paprika
250ml grated parmesan cheese

Boil the eggs for 5 minutes, peel and half them.
Melt the butter in a pan set over medium heat and place the eggs cut-side down into the butter.
Season with salt, pepper and a generous amount of sweet paprika.
Cover the eggs with the grated parmesan and place a lid on the pan. 
Cook just until the cheese has melted.
Serve immediately.

Cheese Biscuits

Cheese Biscuits

The recipe yields about 30 biscuits and they disappear very quickly!! If you want to make an extra batch I would recommend that you prepare the dough twice. If you simply double up on the ingredients, it will probably be to dry to bring together as a rollable dough.

125g butter, cubed (salted butter adds most flavour)
140g flour
120g hard cheese, finely grated (your choice of cheese, I love Gruyere)

Add the butter to a mixing bowl and sift the flour into the bowl.
Rub the butter and flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Reserve 30ml of the grated cheese and add the rest to the flour mixture.
Knead or rather push the dough together into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.

Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
Place the dough on a sheet of baking paper and roll it out to a 0,5cm thickness.
Cut out rounds of 4cm in diameter with a cookie cutter.
Space the biscuits evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle the reserved cheese on top.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Cool the cheese biscuits on the baking sheet and store in a glass container.