creamy one pan orzo with sausage, white beans, pesto, and kale

if you’re keeping score around here, you’ll see an increasing amount of one pan meals and pastas slipping into the mix. if you’ve noticed this small shift in how-we’re-doing-things, you’d be correct that my desire to make life a little bit easier and a little bit more delicious in lieu of multistep, bundles and oodles of ingredients recipes, ding ding ding! because that’s pretty much where i’ve nestled my creative food energies. i’d love to not blame the pandemic for yet another reason for me to be inherently more lazy (efficient? structured? time-saving? industrious? throw me an antonym, any antonym) but what i generally circle back to is the less time i spend fussing over what to eat, the more time i can spend reading/ being horizontal/ scrolling for really fantastic outfits i still have no place to wear. please tell me you get it.

laziness aside (iiiiiiiingenius?) this creamy one pan orzo with sausage, white beans, pesto, and kale is actually a stunner and feels MOST fancy. i’d say you wouldn’t be amiss to casually whip this up for a date night dinner for someone you love. i can attest that manpanions (boyfriends) gave it top marks, and girlfriends, gal pals, puppies, husbands, mommas, neighbors, yourself!, etc etc will be glowing with one-pan glee, too.

here’s how this magic happens:

you gather a few aromatics, sausages you like, a little bit of beans, a bushel of fluffy kale, orzo, coconut milk, and a white wine you can’t wait to drink. you’ll get everything sizzling and popping in a pan, sip said wine from a beautiful glass, and stir every now and then while this incredibly creamy - without any actual cream! - comforting dinner plumps before your eyes.

yes, way!

a few things before we get started:

- this dish comes together in less than 30 minutes and is done in ONE PAN! how easy is that and how much do we love it?
- this is inherently dairy-free, but i did add parmesan cheese to my version. totally not necessary, but if you’re cool with cheese, it is a delicious addition
- the coconut milk does not taste coconut-y, i promise
- swirling the pesto into the pasta in addition to the kale that’s already nestled in the dish is keeeeey! it gives a brightness that takes this cozy bowl to a truly beautiful level
- if you’re reheating this as leftovers, add a little broth or water to help loosen the pasta. the coconut milk is fattier than a heavy cream would be, so it needs a bit of liquid to break things up

creamy one pan orzo with sausage, white beans, pesto, and kale
makes: 4 servings
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes

for the one pan orzo:
1/2 an onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 sausages, sliced (i used a paleo chicken mushroom kind that worked well)
1c cannelini beans, drained and rinsed
2c kale, removed from stems and torn into smaller pieces
1c orzo
1c dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc - always choose a wine you’d also like to drink!)
1c chicken or vegetable stock
1 15oz can of full-fat coconut milk
juice of 1 lemon
1tbsp olive oil
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
1c grated parmesan cheese, optional

for the pesto:
2c kale, removed from stems and torn into smaller pieces
1c fresh basil leaves
1 clove of garlic
juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/4c olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper

heat the oil for the orzo in a large skillet over medium heat. add the onion, sausage, and garlic and saute for 5-7 minutes until the onions become translucent and the sausage becomes golden and crispy. then, add the orzo, salt, and pepper, and ‘toast’ the orzo for about a minute, then add the wine to deglaze the pan. reduce the heat medium, and simmer until the wine is reduced by half.

while the wine is reducing, pulse the ingredients for the pesto in a food processor until combined, and set aside.

add the cannelini beans, kale, lemon juice, stock, and coconut milk to the pan. give everything a big stir, and let simmer for for 15 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed (you want the pasta to be creamy with a little liquid remaining, but not soupy.) stir in the pesto, and add the parmesan cheese if that’s your move!