Please enjoy any of the recipes listed here. I’ve tried to write them out in as accessible a manner as I can.
orzo’s birthday dinner
- Like all dinner routines, this one should start with giving your cat a tasty, healthy meal to enjoy with the one you’ll make for yourself. If your cat doesn’t care for chicken (like Orzo does), perhaps some plain boiled fish.
- Saute some minced garlic in the bottom of a stainless-steel deep pan for about 10 minutes over medium heat. Then add one cube of chicken or vegetable boullion, a hefty pinch of salt, and a knob of butter. Add rosemary, coriander, and/or thyme to taste.
- Pour in around 8oz of dry orzo. Cover this with enough water to stand about 1-2 inches above the dry pasta. All orzo brands cook a little differently from each other, so it may take one or two tries to figure out the water ratio that works best for the brand you have.
- Bring to a boil, stirring with a metal spoon (only on an uncoated steel pan!) to keep it from sticking to the bottom.
- After bringing the orzo to a boil, the garlic, spices, butter and boullion should be distributed evenly throughout. Turn the heat down to about 1/3 heat. The faster you cook this, the less the pieces inside will stick together and diffuse into the water, but it will also be more likely to burn if you forget to stir.
- Pat two thawed or fresh tilapia filets dry. Then dip them in a mixture of cornstarch, all-purpose flour, paprika, and salt.
- Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in a nonstick pan over about 3/4 heat. When the butter has melted, drop both filets into the pan. If your pan is too small to do this without the filets touching, you need to cook one at a time to achieve the desired result.
- Cook both pieces of fish for about 5 minutes on each side, or until a meat thermometer registers the temperature at the thickest point on each filet at 165 degrees or higher.
- Serve orzo with a filet on top in a bowl. You can put frozen haricots vert (green beans) in the pan for about 15 minutes to fry & remove them before frying your fish if you’re a greens fiend like myself.
- Enjoy your meal! Don’t forget to put your fish pan somewhere inaccessible or cover it while it’s cooling to keep your cat from trying to sample the hot fish butter.