The name’s a tongue twister, but this dish is a breeze to make! Goat cheese and roasted red peppers are the shortcuts for this creamy, smoky risoni recipe. Under $20 for 4 servings, ready in 20 minutes. Serve as a meal or side — it’s like a Mediterranean risotto!
Goat Cheese & Roasted Red Pepper Risoni (orzo)
Today’s recipe is a quick risoni dish that’s simple to make but a little bit special thanks to a bit of goat cheese stirred through which gives it a creamy edge. The distinctive, mild flavour of goat cheese with a touch of tang works perfectly with the Mediterranean flavours here, especially in this oozy risotto-like risoni recipe.
It’s one of those dishes that’s fast to make – yet company worthy. Especially if you keep harping on and on about how good goat’s cheese is. Wait, is that just me?? 😂
Ingredients in this risoni recipe
Here’s all you need to make this. If you don’t have goat’s cheese, you can substitute in a pinch with Danish feta which has a similar flavour and also melts. Else, sour cream, yogurt or even cream plus a squeeze of lemon will have a similar flavour.
Risoni / orzo – Called risoni here in Australia and Italy but orzo in most of the rest of the world, I have a big soft spot for these little rice-shaped pastas. I love that it cooks quickly and that it tastes like risotto (minus all the patient-stirring work!).
Find risoni in the pasta aisle at regular grocery stores. Substitute with other small pasta like ditalini, star shaped pasta or those tiny novelty pasta shapes (imagine this with dinosaur pasta!).
Goat’s cheese (closer up photo above) – Cheese made from goat rather than cow’s milk and has a distinct tang to it. This recipe uses the goat’s cheese that has a texture like Danish feta (ie the soft creamy type of feta), picture above. When you crumble it, it smears on your fingers and when heated, it melts.
Find it at regular grocery stores, usually sold in log form. Even my corner store sells it!
Substitute with (in order of priority) Danish feta, sour cream, full fat Greek yogurt or regular cream plus a squeeze of lemon.
Roasted red peppers / capsicum (aka bell peppers) – These are store bought jars with strips of red capsicum that have been charred and blistered so it has a wonderful smokey flavour and the flesh is super soft and sweet so it melds beautifully into the sauce. *Also see info box below for different names for roasted peppers*
Find them in the pickle section of regular grocery stores though you can find them for considerably better values (especially in large jars) at continental and European delis and produce shops.
Substitute – Sauté fresh strips of capsicum, zucchini half moons, asparagus, mushrooms or any vegetable you’d like, though you won’t get the same smoky flavour. Or use other jarred/canned vegetables like artichokes, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes.
Tomato passata – Smooth pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled “tomato puree” in the US (here’s a photo of Mutti tomato passata sold at Walmart). It’s readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces and costs around the same as canned tomato. Passata is excellent for making thick, smooth tomato based sauces, like we are doing in today’s risoni recipe. More on tomato passata here.
Substitute: For those of you in the US, substituted with the what you call tomato puree (like Hunts). Otherwise, use canned crushed tomato (though the sauce colour won’t be such a vibrant red colour).
Kalamata olives – Adds fabulous little briny pops into this dish, and flavours the sauce.
Red onion and garlic – The aromatic flavour bases for this recipe.
Roasted red peppers – different names and jar labels
What we call capsicum here in Australia, NZ and some other parts of the world are called bell peppers in the US and sweet peppers or just peppers in the UK and most parts of Europe.
So sometimes here in Australia, they will be sold in jars labelled “roasted red peppers”. It’s not spicy peppers (ie chilli) that we think of! It is capsicum. 🙂
Finishing: basil or parsley – or nothing
Finding myself with an abundance of extra basil from stress-testing the basil storing method I shared last week, I decided on a whim to finish the dish with basil and it made it even better! Though until this week, I’ve always been finishing it with just a small amount of parsley.
But in all honesty, there is so much going on here already with the olives and goat’s cheese and roasted peppers, it is still 100% delicious without any fresh herbs. I’d probably add a teaspoon of dried oregano into the sauce though!
How to make this risoni recipe
It takes around 20 minutes to make from start to finish, including preparation. There’s little chopping to be done!
Workflow – Get the risoni boiling then start on the sauce. The cooked risoni can sit in the colander until you’re ready to stir it in.
Cook risoni until a tiny bit under done ie. very al dente. The centre shouldn’t be raw-pasta hard but just a bit firmer than you’d like to eat. Reason: the risoni will keep cooking in the sauce so we don’t want it fully cooked at this stage.
Reserve pasta water – Just before draining, scoop out a mugful of the pasta cooking water. We will be using this to loosen the olive pasta sauce later. It’s good practice to use the pasta cooking cooking water because it’s got starch from the pasta in it which helps the sauce cling to the little bits of risoni (I preach this for every single pasta recipe I share!).
Drain and rinse – Drain the risoni then give it a quick rinse under cold tap water to rinse off excess starch. If you skip this step, the sauce can get a little too “gluey” from excess starch, and also prevents the risoni from sticking together as it’s sitting in the colander waiting to be used.
Sauté – Using a large deep skillet (the one I use is 30cm/12″) on high heat, cook the onion first for around 2 minutes until it starts to soften. Then add the strips of capsicum/peppers and garlic. Cook for another 1 minute until the garlic is light golden, and the onion is pretty floppy.
Sauce – Add the passata and olives, then stir.
Simmer – Bring to a simmer then lower the head and simmer for 3 minutes on medium heat, stirring every now and then. During this step, the briny, salty flavour from the olives and the smoky flavour from the capsicum/peppers releases into the sauce which adds flavour. YUM!
Risoni – Add the cooked risoni, salt and about 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water. Stir through until the risoni is coated in the sauce.
Basil and melty goat’s cheese – Add most of the goat’s cheese (reserve a bit for garnish) and stir it through until it melts and becomes creamy (it melts quickly). Then stir through the basil (if using), just before serving.
Then you’re done! Ladle into bowls or into a large serving bowl, sprinkle with goat’s cheese (or just add a clump if it’s soft and sticky – more impactful!) and little basil leaves or chopped basil. Then dig in!
How to serve this risoni dish
This is substantial enough and certainly interesting enough to be a meal by itself. Essentially, this is a vegetarian pasta dish (despite the repetitive comparisons I make to risotto!) which incorporates a decent amount of vegetables (tomato, onion, capsicum/bell peppers) so you don’t need to add a side dish to round out your meal.
However, it’d also be terrific served as a side dish with a simple piece of protein. I actually meant to photograph it with a piece of pan fried fish or prawns/shrimp plonked on top, cooked with just salt and pepper. Then the idea would be to eat the protein with the oozy risoni playing multiple roles here – like the sauce as well as a starch and vegetable side.
Try it with my everyday marinated chicken breast (named as such because it’s made with pantry staples), Italian marinated chicken, Lemon Garlic Marinated Pork Chops or pile over some Greek Lamb Meatballs (imagine that!).
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
SUGGESTED SIMPLE PROTEINS TO SERVE WITH THIS RISONI
FAQ
3 to 4 days in the fridge. Loosen with a splash of water and reheat in the microwave. I don’t think it would freeze very well. I’m a bit selective about which pasta dishes I freeze – pretty much only pasta bakes.
Yes! Use rice instead of risoni/orzo. Just use 3 – 4 cups of cooked rice of choice (start with 3 then add more if there’s enough sauce) and stir it in place of the risoni.
Other char grilled canned / jarred vegetable if you find them (asparagus is the only one I recall seeing), though you could of course substitute with other things like sun dried tomatoes, canned asparagus or artichokes. You can also sauté your own slices of capsicum / red peppers or other vegetables of choice – the sky’s the limit really! Mushrooms, zucchini slices etc etc.
Goat cheese or goat’s cheese is cheese made from goat milk rather than cow milk which is the milk used for the everyday cheese we consume – cheddar, tasty, colby etc. Cheese made from goat milk has a mild flavour with a distinct tang to it.
There are all sorts of types of goat cheese – firm, creamy brie-type etc. The Danish-feta style one we are using today is the most common variety here in Australia that you can find at regular grocery stores (it’s even sold at my corner store!). Other types of goat cheese are typically only found at speciality cheese stores and delis.
Substitute with (in order of priority) Danish feta, sour cream, full fat Greek yogurt or regular cream plus a squeeze of lemon.
As a side note, the best goat cheese I have had in my life (and I eat a LOT of cheese from all over the world!) is Tongola Cheese in Tasmania. Small batch, family run goat farm (Leap Farm) and only available at local farmers markets in Tasmania which makes it extra special.
Leap Farm is also a carbon positive farm which is an extraordinary feat for a working farm to achieve. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Iain and Kate Field who own and run the farm and Tongola Cheese. I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to meet them and visit the farm (and taste the cheeses!).
Watch how to make it
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Creamy Goat Cheese & Roasted Red Pepper Risoni (Orzo)
Ingredients
- 250g/ 8oz risoni pasta (orzo) , or other very small pasta (tiny stars, novelty shapes like dinosaurs, ditalini)
- 2 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt , for cooking the pasta
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red onion , halved then cut into 5mm / 0.2″ slices (sub regular onion)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 310g/ 10oz jar chargrilled / fire-roasted sliced red capsicum/peppers (~ 1 cup), drained, roughly chopped into 2.5cm / 1″ pieces (Note 1)
- 2 cups tomato passata or puree (Note 2)
- 1/2 cup sliced Kalamata olives or other briny/pickly thing (like pickles, chopped)
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 120g/4 oz goat's cheese , the creamy feta type (Note 3)
Finishing – CHOOSE (Note 4)
- 1 tightly packed cup basil leaves
- 1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley , plus extra for garnish
Instructions
- Boil risoni – Bring a small pot or large saucepan of water to the boil. Add salt and cook risoni until just under al dente (ie still a bit firm inside) as it will cook more in the sauce. 8 minutes for me.
- Drain & rinse – Just before draining, scoop out 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain, rinse briefly under the tap then leave the risoni in the colander while you finish the sauce.
- Sauté – Heat the oil in a large non stick skillet (30cm/12") over high heat. Add onion and cook for 2 minutes until starting to soften. Add garlic and capsicum strips. Cook for 2 minutes until the onion is softened.
- Simmer – Add tomato and olives. Bring to a simmer, lower heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring every now and then.
- Melt goat cheese – Add cooked risoni, salt, pepper and the pasta cooking water. Stir to combine. Add most of the goat's cheese (reserve some for garnish), stir so it melts.
- Basil & serve – Stir through basil or parsley just before serving. Divide between bowls. Crumble over reserved goat's cheese, sprinkle with extra basil. Dig in with a spoon!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Use the leftover risoni for one of these recipes!
Life of Dozer
We celebrated Christmas last weekend as it was the first weekend everybody was back in Sydney! As you might imagine, there was a fair number of food gifts (our entire extended family is very into food!) so Dozer spent a fair amount of time snuffling around the pile of presents.
The expression on his face when I was coaxing him to get out of there… “are you talking to me?” “I don’t understand what you’re saying” 😇
In the end, I gave up and joined him. 😂
Love goat’s cheese and Danish feta and basil, basil and more basil – and call these pasta bits orzo even tho’ I am Australian 🙂 ! Oh, well!! Great recipe on its own with a few salad leaves to ‘decorate’ the plate! Thank you for another one to keep! Dozer – love that big picture of him: Mommy, that one > my files to keep and look at!
Isn’t that funny you call it orzo!! I had never had term when I was younger 🙂
Guess I have read too many recipes where it was called such? Have a fair few N American food friends?
Video does not work
Yikes!! Fixing!!
I am 100km S of Sydney – it works fine here! If you are from Oz – methinks the wild thunderstorms around Sydney et al may make a difference in places?
No worries, I am Hunter Valley, will look later. Just thought a heads up.
Keep the amazing recipes coming.
Nope!! It was me, I buggered up. Now fixed!! Thanks for bringing it to me attention – N x
I cannot believe an ex-Japanese chef said “buggered up”. You are certainly an Aussie now and I love it.
BA HA HA!!! I’m not a proper real chef and my mother always accuses me of hardly being Japanese!! I’m as true-blue-Aussie as can be. Vegemite should be my middle name 🙂 N x
Hi Daniel – Video was missing before, but now it’s there if you reload the page.
I am sorry but I hate hate hate goat cheese. Can I use boursin instead?
Anything that will melt! N x