great tastes. great stories.
Tomato sauce enriched with a tablespoon of pomegranate tapenade ensures an easy midweek supper dish of orzo is nourishing and full of flavour. Having some aromatic oregano from Lebanon helps to bring a tin of tomatoes alive in the winter too. Drizzling chilli infused oil to finish the simple dish is optional but adds some interesting heat. By no means complicated, we took our inspiration from Sami Tamimi‘s recipe for spinach with orzo from Falastin.
Feel free to use either tinned tomatoes or fresh, depending on the season. In the summer, we cut 6 tomatoes in half, dowse them liberally in Zejd’s extra virgin olive oil and roast for 20 minutes at 180 degrees in a fan oven with a tablespoon of oregano. Just enough to catch the edges slightly, before adding them to the mixture of fried onions and orzo. Since we like a bit of heat, we sometimes use 2 of the tiny red chillis in Zejd’s chilli infused olive oil.
The depth of flavour for the tomato sauce comes from Zejd’s pomegranate tapenade. The souri black olives have a really “meaty” rich taste, and the addition of pomegranate molasses gives it a tangy sweetness which works well with tomatoes. Since there are no anchovies in the tapenade, it just happens to be suitable for vegans.
serves 4
250g orzo
70ml Zejd’s extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 onion, roughly chopped (150g)
1 tin of tomatoes (400g) or in summer 6 tomatoes roasted (see above)
2 chillis from Zejd’s chilli infused olive oil (optional)
1 tbsp Bassatin Baanoub oregano
1 tbsp Zejd pomegranate tapenade
500ml water
To serve: once plated up, drizzle on a touch of Zejd’s chilli infused olive oil for a dash of heat. (Be mindful of the chillis if you added them to the sauce – they pack quite a punch!)
