Soiled Orzo

by Maud Hallin

serves 6

1/2 pound orzo
4 large Portabello mushrooms
cheesecloth
salt and pepper to taste
butter for lining oven casserole
decoration

Cook orzo in boiling salted water for about 9 minutes, or according to package instructions. Chop portabello mushrooms and run them through aCuisinart or blender. Gather this mushroom mess into cheesecloth and gather the top of the cheesecloth into your hand. Squeeze out all the liquid. Rest your arms and squeeze a lot more. Put into a plastic bag until ready to use. Squeeze more and mix with cooked orzo. Taste for salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put orzo-mushroom mixture into a butter-lined baking form. Cover with foil. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.

This brown and white dish is something of a surprise. It is delicious and very easy, but you will want to do some fun decoration of the dish, or just serve it as "spring soil" since that's what it looks like.

Figure out what to do with the mushroom juice. Maybe add to leftover orzo along with some chicken stock for soup. My time in India has taught me to be very careful with materials. We certainly do notneedany more landfill!