Spicy Grilled Veggies and Orzo Bake

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it sounded really good! Grilled eggplant is just amazing. The original recipe is from Veggie num num. She has some great vegetarian recipes if anyone is interested! I forgot to mention a few key aspects to my goals: I have 6 room mates that I like to cook for and I am on a budget. Soooo....yeah. I never follow a recipe to the "T" unless it makes a lot and is inexpensive. I had to tweak the Spicy Eggplant and Risoni Bake to my budget and supplies

First thing you will notice in the original recipe is that it calls for 3 cups passata and about 1 tsp harissa paste. If you are like me your first thought was "Whaaaaa?". Second thought, "MEH. I'll use tomato paste, canned diced tomatoes, and red pepper flakes". I'm sure harissa and passata would make this dish absolutely spectacular but I can say with 100% certainty that I don't have time to make either of those from scratch and there is no way that I am going to find either of those products here in Hawai'i. No way. I also had orzo in my pantry and figured it looks like risoni so hopefully it will cook like it too! Below is my version of this dish.

Spicy Grilled Veggies and Orzo Bake

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups orzo
• 3 cups water + 2-3 Tbsp Better Than Bouillon
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can tomato paste
• 4 Japanese eggplants, cut lengthwise and about 1/4-1/2" thick
• 2 zucchini, cut lengthwise and about 1/2" thick
• 1 red bell pepper, but into 6 pieces 
• 1 onion, cut into rings
• Olive oil
• Grape tomatoes, cut in half (as many as you want!)
• Red pepper flakes (to taste, I like things spicy so I added quite a bit)
• Fresh ground pepper
• Fresh oregano
• Fresh basil

The longest part of this process was slicing the veggies and grilling. I didn't start cooking until after 5 pm so the dish didn't get out of the oven and on to the table until 8pm....and I'm obsessed with chopping so I did all the work myself. And I made myself a rum and coke. All of these things will slow you down. 

So...grill the veggies!

 

Grilled eggplant is so freaking tasty. I made a TON extra because it is so good. Probably why it took me so long, I had to do several batches on the grill! 

Grilled zucchini! Not as good as eggplant but still really good. I didn't take any pics of the red bell pepper or the onion because the sun had set and it was too dark :(

Don't forget to have a grill buddy to keep you company! My grill buddy is sad because I didn't drop anything. Poor Gizmo!

After you are done grilling all the veggies, preheat the oven to 350F and heat oil in a sauce pan (one big enough to hold the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, 3 cups chicken stock, orzo). Sautee the garlic for a minute or so. I added a dash of cooking sherry to the garlic because my oil was really hot and it browned them a little too much. Then add the tomato paste and diced tomatoes with the juice! Stir that up with ground pepper, red pepper flakes and some of the basil and oregano (reserve some of the fresh herbs to put on top of finished product). Add the chicken stock and the orzo. I didn't cook the orzo completely, I think it was only 5 minutes. Then put this sauce into a casserole dish. There will be a lot of liquid at this point, don't worry it will get absorbed. 

Grape tomatoes from the Kaneohe Farmer's Market! These are so tasty! I buy a bag of these every week!

Now the fun part! On top of the sauce, layer your grilled veggies and grape tomatoes. I put the grilled onions on first, then grape tomatoes, followed by a layer of zucchini, eggplant, and red bell pepper. Bake for about 40 minutes or until liquid has been cooked off. 

Final product....

This dish was really tasty, healthy, and VEGETARIAN! Well, mostly. Chicken stock. What are you going to do. Apparently my beloved Better Than Bouillon comes in many flavors though, not just chicken! You could easily make this a totally veggie dish.