A Jesse Feld Classic

I know it has been way too long since I have posted. In my defense, I had a post planned for last week but the meal tasted so badly I didn’t want to share. It did look beautiful, however! So it’s been another week and this post is extra special because the meal was made by none other than Jesse Feld!

Jesse and I both had off of work on Monday, so we decided to do a day trip to VA beach. We spent the afternoon laying in the sun, walking on the boardwalk, and eating the biggest rainbow sprinkle-covered-creamies I’ve ever seen. (I actually had to keep throwing away scoops of ice cream so I could get to the cone – which, if you know how much I love ice cream, says a lot!) By the time we got home that evening, we were both exhausted from being out in the sun and ready for a quick dinner. Jesse offered to make one of his favorites – spinach orzo! He wanted to add tomatoes, but I do not like raw tomatoes in my pasta, so I suggested he roasted them. Neither of us had ever roasted tomatoes before, so Jesse had to develop his own technique.

“Ah yes,” Feld said as he leaned back in his chair, scratching the stubble on his chin as if deep in thought. “We were hungry – so hungry that we didn’t have time to wait for the oven to fully heat. That’s when the light bulb clicked in my mind – I will set the temp to 450, quickly toss the tomatoes in a little EVOO and Italian seasoning and throw them in the oven.”

After this dinner we dubbed Jesse King of roasting tomatoes! He did it to perfection – they were delicious and tied the whole meal together.

He made the orzo and when it was done cooking, stirred in a bunch of spinach until it all wilted. We loooooove spinach so he kept adding more and more! Then we added in the tomatoes and topped with a bunch of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano  (not pictured). It was the perfect post-beach quick meal and I was so thankful that it was all prepared by Jesse while I got to wash all of the sand and sunscreen off of me. The only bad part is we have a general rule that whoever does the cooking doesn’t have to do the dishes after… But doing the dishes was well worth the meal prepared by Jesse!

We still have not found whole wheat orzo, but I know it exists and am looking to get some. Hopefully we can use that next time!