High Protein Cheesy Orzo with Tempeh Bacon.

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This cheesy orzo is creamy with a tender bite., full of flavour and packed with protein! And don’t skip out on that salty, crispy and chewy tempeh bacon! This addition really turns the dish up a notch.

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Serves: 5 | Total Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 400g firm tofu

• 40g nutritional yeast

• 500ml oat milk

• 1 tbsp mustard seeds

• 2 tsp turmeric

• Juice of 2 lemons

• 1-2 garlic cloves

• 1 tsp dried oregano

The rest:

• 500ml water

• 375g orzo

• 250g tempeh, diced

• 40g miso

• 5 tbsp tamari

• Fresh basil

Instructions

1. Start by pre-heating the oven to 190ºC, fan.

2. Marinade the tempeh. In a small bowl or tub mix together the miso and tamari until smooth. Throw in the diced tempeh (you want the tempeh to be fairly small squares) then mix well to fully coat the tempeh in the sauce. To make this easier, place the sauce and tempeh in a small tub and secure the lid. Then, shake the tub around to fully coat the tempeh.

3. Leave the tempeh to marinade whilst you blend all the cheesy sauce ingredients (only use add 250 ml oat milk at this point) together until smooth.

4. Heat up a large pan on medium heat and pour the blended sauce mixture into the pan. Add in the remaining 250 ml oat milk and mix well. Cook for 7-10 minutes, or until the sauce turns a bright yellow colour and begins to bubble and thicken.

5. Once the sauce begins to bubble, add the orzo pasta to the sauce and add in the 500 ml water. Let simmer for around 30 minutes, or until the orzo turns soft with a nice bite. Ensure you mix the pasta around every so often to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

6. Whilst you let the pasta simmer, now you can begin to cook your tempeh. Lay the marinated tempeh out flat onto a baking tray and place in the oven. Both the tempeh and orzo should finish cooking at the same time, but depending on your oven, your tempeh may take longer or less time. You want to make sure your tempeh is slightly charred and crispy on the edges.

7. Once everything is cooked, serve and sprinkle with your tempeh bacon bites and handful of chopped fresh basil.

   This dish works great as a weekly prep too — just place your orzo and tempeh in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days, and re-heat when and as needed.

If you do make this recipe let me know by sharing a photo with me! I would love more than anything to see your creations.