Slimming friendly Bacon Orzotto

We were recently introduced to Bacon Orzotto and we haven’t looked back. When you’re always thinking about food, it’s beneficial to direct that focus towards wholesome, satisfying meals like our bacon orzotto. The hero of the dish is orzo; a type of short-cut pasta that is shaped to look a bit like rice. It works very similarly to rice in that it absorbs liquid during the cooking process and cooks through and expands. The recipe we followed was delicious but it used larger quantities of fat (both in oil and cheese) than we usually eat. To ensure we can cook the dish on a frequent basis, I’ve tweaked the recipe to make it slimming friendly.

Slimming friendly Bacon Orzotto

This recipe below is low in syns for those who follow the SW Extra Easy plan. We’ve cooked the recipe a handful of times now and it is so nice. Full of flavour and personally, I prefer our ‘less fat’ version as it’s not as greasy and doesn’t leave a residue in your mouth.

The bacon we used in the recipe are smoked bacon medallions (without the rind). This smokiness adds to the flavour of the overall dish. Medallions are used without the rind as this would just add more fat into the dish that isn’t needed.

The recipe still uses the hard Italian style cheese at the end to blend the orzo together with the other ingredients. This is a 25g portion of cheese per person which approximately 6 syns worth. Alternatively, it can be classed as a a healthy extra A (check the variety in the directory for confirmation).

Crispy kale is a delicious speed food

To add speed to the dish, kale is oven roasted with low calorie cooking spray and seasoned with salt and pepper. You can stir the crispy kale throughout the finished dish before serving or simply place it on top of the orzotto. My personal preference is to place the kale on the top. This preserves it’s crispiness which is one of my favourite parts of this dish.

Yield: 2

Bacon Orzotto

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

A low syn version of a popular pasta, bacon and leek dish topped with delicious crispy kale. Move over risotto, you've just been upgraded!

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Ingredients

• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Leek, sliced thinly
• 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 Bacon Medallions, chopped into bitesize pieces
• Chicken Stock (OXO cube or stock pot) 
• 50g Kale
• 180g Dried Orzo 
• 50g, Hard Italian Style Grated Cheese 
• 450ml water 
• Low-fat cooking spray 
• Salt and Pepper for seasoning 

Instructions

1. Chop the onion and leek into small bitesize pieces
2. Peel and grate garlic (or use a garlic press)
3. Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200°C)
4. Spread kale out onto a baking sheet and spritz with cooking spray
5. Season the kale and set aside
6. Spritz a cold saucepan with cooking spray and heat
7. Add the bacon lardons and cook thoroughly
8. Add the chopped onion and leek to the saucepan and cook until softened
9. Add the chopped garlic and stir through
10. Stir the orzo, chicken stock and water into the pan
11. Bring to a simmer and reduce the heat
12. Stir frequently
13. Simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the orzo
14. Pop the kale into the oven to crisp up (takes about 5-10 minutes)
15. Once the orzo has absorbed all the liquid, remove from the heat and stir in the grated hard cheese.
16. Once stirred through, serve and place the crispy kale on top or stir through the dish if preferred.
17. Enjoy!

Notes

Always pre-wash your vegetables before cooking. Always check your syns to protect your weightloss and check the nutrional values of your food if calorie-counting or similar.

25g of Hard Italian Cheese is 6 syns or a portion of Health Extra A (depending on the variety of cheese you use)

You may also be interested in these delicious recipes 
to enjoy on the Slimming World plan