I think you have more than once noticed in stores, on the shelves with pasta, packs of strange-looking pasta. And, if everything is clear with rizoni (in the form of rice), then the orzo and krifaraki are embarrassing. They look like the same, so why are they called differently?
It's not only about the origin of this paste, it's also about the composition.
Orzo is an Italian pasta made from durum flour. Krifaraki is more about Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria... Italy, of course, too. And krifaraki are made from semolina. This gives different nuances of taste. Although krifaraki are used in the same way as orzo.
In Greece, for example, they make a casserole. Rather, with them.
Shall we prepare?
We take:
- 500 grams of minced meat;
- 1 large onion
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 250 grams of krifaraki or orzo paste;
- 200 grams of feta;
- 700 milliliters of chicken or vegetable broth;
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 can of tomatoes in their own juice or 500-600 grams of fresh;
- Several branches of thyme (peel off the leaves and chop finely)
- A pinch of cinnamon (Ceylon, without a pronounced confectionery aroma);
- A teaspoon of paprika;
- Salt, red and black pepper to taste;
How we cook:
Cut the onion and garlic into small cubes.
If you have fresh tomatoes, blanch them, peel and mash them with a mixer. If the tomatoes are in their own juice, just punch them with a blender.
We send the minced meat to a frying pan with a small amount of oil and fry until it becomes "crumbly". Add onion and garlic to the minced meat, a couple of tablespoons of chopped thyme, and fry for another three to four minutes.
Then add a spoonful of tomato paste, fry for a couple of minutes. The pasta is needed so that then the minced meat with the sauce is not so liquid.
Now we send to the frying pan, pepper, cinnamon, red pepper and black pepper. Pour in tomato puree and broth. Salt.
We send dry pasta to all this, mix, put in a baking dish and sprinkle with crumbled cheese on top.
We bake in an oven preheated to 180 ° C for about 30 minutes.
Bon Appetit!