Garlicky Mushroom Stroganoff Orzo

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 20 g butter
• 400 g chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 250 g orzo
• 700 ml vegetable stock
• 150 g sour cream
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• salt and black pepper to taste
• crusty bread, to serve
• crisp green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan over a medium-high heat until the butter is foaming and just starting to smell nutty.
2. Add the mushrooms in a single layer and leave them alone for 3 minutes before stirring — crowd them and they steam, give them space and they brown. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes total, stirring only now and then, until they've released their water, taken it back, and turned deeply golden at the edges. Season generously with salt and pepper now; mushrooms drink salt and need it early.
3. Drop in the shallots and cook for 4 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the garlic and smoked paprika and cook for no more than 30 seconds, just until fragrant — burnt garlic turns the whole pan bitter, and you want the paprika to bloom in the fat so it tastes of itself rather than dust.
4. Tip in the orzo and red lentils and stir for a full minute so every grain is slicked in the buttery, paprika-stained pan bits. This is your built-in flavour — don't rush it.
5. Pour in the vegetable stock and scrape up anything stuck to the base. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring regularly so the orzo doesn't catch, until it's tender with a touch of bite and the pan looks glossy rather than soupy. Splash in more hot stock or water if it tightens before the orzo is done — you're looking for the texture of a loose risotto.
6. Pull the pan off the heat — soured cream splits if you boil it. Stir through the soured cream and Dijon until the sauce turns pale, silky, and clings to the orzo. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust the salt and pepper now, at the pan, not at the table.
7. Spoon the orzo into warm bowls, scatter the chopped parsley generously over the top, crack over plenty of black pepper, and bring the crusty bread and crisp green salad to the table alongside.