Do you remember this one? It was from your trip to Greece, a little story that you told me about a seafood restaurant serving this traditional dish. All I can seem to remember are the vibrantly colored houses that you showed me, the ones with the striking blue roofs. While I've never had authentic Kritharoto, and while I've never been to Greece - this one's my little interpretation for you!
What defines Kritharoto for us? :) A hearty seafood plate bursting with love! Maybe one day we'll get to go to Greece together and see whose dish wins!
Ingredients
Orzo Pasta ~ or anything similar that resembles it :)
Seafood of your choice! I typically like adding clams, shrimp, squid, scallops...
Earthy Vegetables for the broth - things like celery, carrots.
Olive Oil
Chicken Stock/Seafood Stock
Seasoning
Preparation!
Chop or slice the earthy vegetables ready for making the stock. You can dice them, cut them into chunks - it's mostly to provide substance to the broth. Most of the broth will be used for making the Kritharoto, but it makes for a really nice soup afterwards too!
Place the prepared veggies into the broth - which can be purely water, or a mixture of water + chicken stock, or water + seafood stock. Whichever is more convenient or available to you :) We might flavor this with a bit of salt later as well, but not too much, as cooking the Kritharoto will condense the flavors into the plate.
Prepare the shrimp! The majority of flavor in the broth not only comes from the aforementioned veggies, but also shrimp heads! De-shell all the shrimp too, and place them into the broth.
Bring the broth to boil, then simmer for a good 40 minutes to an hour. During that time you can put as much seafood as you like into the broth for flavoring. The more seafood, the richer the broth. I like putting in some mussels, clams, or any other shellfish at this stage.
Keep tasting and adjusting the flavor of the broth to your liking. Once the hour has passed, the broth should be ready for Kritharoto!
Take a pan or a wok (which I find to be easier for making large portions), and heat it up. Then, distribute some olive oil evenly onto it.
Stir fry the dry Orzo pasta quickly, just to coat it with olive oil, making sure not to burn it.
Then, slowly, ladle by ladle, add in the stock! The Orzo pasta soaks it up quickly, almost like making a Risotto.
Keep adding the broth until you feel like the Orzo pasta is unable to absorb any more, then keep cooking it down. When it's near completion you can feel free to add seafood of your liking to cook it here, or you can fry them in a separate pan. Shrimp, mussels, clams, I would add now. Scallops and squid, I would prefer to fry up in another pan then toss into the Kritharoto after.
Optional - you can also add a bit more olive oil to the Kritharoto for fragrance.
Plate up and eat up! <3
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