Shrimp Orzo with Asparagus

12/25/2024 – This made a great Christmas 2024 lunch where we enjoyed it with Digger and Carol Creel. It was inspired by the recipe at Julia’s album here. Mary said it was very easy.

Overview of the meal: We also made for the first time spanakopita that turned out good but was a lot of work. In addition we served a Spinach/Bacon salad kit from Publix. Great meal that was not too heavy.

Shrimp Orzo with Asparagus

Lemon Shrimp Orzo with Asparagus is a 30-minute Mediterranean-style dinner that looks like a fancy restaurant-quality main course. It’s light, refreshing, and perfect for a quick Summer meal or a simple weeknight dinner. The orzo is coated in a delicious lemon garlic butter sauce and topped with capers and fresh herbs (basil and thyme).

Ingredients

Asparagus
  • 1 lb asparagus ends trimmed, cut into 2-inch slices
Orzo
  • 1 cup orzo uncooked
  • 2 cups chicken stock
Shrimp
  • olive oil
  • 1.5 lb frozen medium, easy-peel and deviened from Publix. Once defrosted season lightly with our Italian seasoning.
  • 1 pinch red pepper flakes made from cayanne peppers from our garden [As Carol does not like “spicy” Mary moved some shrimp and orzo/asparagas to a small pot before adding red pepper flakes to the shrimp]
  • salt to taste
  • freshly ground pepper
Sauce
  • 5 large cloves garlic minced
  • ¼+ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. This first cook used one of Digger’s lemons that are very juicy. Mary said “don’t slimp on the lemon juice”.
  • ¼ cup dry white wine. More if needed to get the suace consistency correct.
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
Garnish
  • 3 tablespoons capers
  • fresh basil from the garden

Instructions

Cook asparagus
  • Bring a medium saucepan half filled with water to a boil. Add asparagus sliced into 2-inch slices. Cook in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Cook orzo
  • In the asparagus saucepan add 1 cup of uncooked orzo and 2 cups of chicken stock. Bring to a brief boil, reduce to a visible simmer, and cook, covered, stirring a few times to keep the orzo from sticking. Continue until liquid is absorbed.
Cook shrimp
  • Heat a large, high-sided, skillet until hot on medium heat. Add shrimp without overcrowding (you might have to cook in 2 batches). Sprinkle shrimp with seasonings (Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper).
  • Cook shrimp, flipping it once or twice, on medium heat, about 3-4 minutes total, until pink in color.
  • Remove shrimp from the skillet.
Make sauce
  • Add minced garlic, lemon juice, and dry white chardonay wine to the skillet where you cooked the shrimp and deglaze the pan. Reduce heat, and cook until the sauce reduces just a bit and garlic is softened. Remove from heat and fold in butter, off heat, letting it melt in the sauce.
Assembly
  • Add cooked orzo, cooked asparagus, and 2 tablespoons of capers to the skillet with the lemon garlic butter sauce. Stir to combine. Taste and season with more Italian seasoning, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and/or just salt and pepper.
  • Add cooked shrimp to the orzo and stir it to reheat on low heat.
  • Add more wine if needed to have enough sauce.
  • When serving, top with the remaining 1 tablespoon (or more) of capers, and thin sliced ribbons of fresh basil from our garden. Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice over the shrimp.