Last weekend I fuelled my cheese obsession even further with a new cookbook – ‘Cooking With Cheese,’ published by Ryland Peters and Small. It’s just cheesy heaven, with over 80 recipes, and it’s beautifully put together.

When looking at what to cook for this post, I eventually decided on Creamy Orzo Pasta Bake, with Comté Cheese and Courgette and it was DELICIOUS (even if it had about a 1,000 calories in it – it was totally worth it!) And it’s actually incredibly easy to do.

Ingredients

250g orzo

400ml crème fraiche

1 courgette, roughly grated

A large handful of freshly chopped flat leaf parsley leaves

Grated zest of half a lemon

50g grated hard cheese – I used 18 month Comté

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.

Cook the orzo according to the package instructions, drain well and transfer to a mixing bowl. Pour in the crème fraiche and add the courgette, parsley and lemon zest. Mix well until thoroughly combined. Season well and transfer to the prepared baking dish. Spread evenly and sprinkle over the cheese. 

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 20-30 minutes, until just browned, then serve immediately.

I was actually a little bit naughty and doubled the amount of cheese – I put 50g in the orzo mixture, as well as another 50g sprinkled on top. For extra cheesiness!

If you fancy getting your hands on this book (and I recommend it to all cheese lovers), it’s available on Amazon.co.uk here.

The question is what I’m going to try next…

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I was sent the book to review by Ryland Peters and Small, but did not receive any payment. All views are my own.