Saturday’s Basket – Roasted Broccoli and Feta Orzo

Every Saturday I am a little more amazed at how great the South of the James Market really is.  This past Saturday proved to be even better with the neighborhood yard sale running in tandem…it meant an early visit and an end-of-market visit for me.   The first time around I noticed broccoli was aplenty so I picked up a pound of fresh heads from Fertile Crescent Farm and placed them gently in my cooler pack .  Off I went to rummage for some great yard sale finds.

After all the shopping and chatting with Forest Hill neighbors, I was famished so I headed back to the market to grab some lunch.  After surveying several options – tacos, breakfast burritos, BBQ, egg rolls, etc. – I ended with Belmont Butchery – Meat on the Street.  Actually, they had me at ’1/2 pound burger with blue cheese sauce’…come on, who can walk away from that?!   It was everything I imagined it to be and more, complimented with perfectly wilted spinach.  It made me wonder what a perfect, non-traditional side dish would be aside such an esteemed sandwich…and that’s how I came to make this Saturday’s Basket recipe.

Roasted Broccoli and Feta Orzo

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes  Cook Time: ~20 minutes

1 cup orzo, cooked as instructed on box

1 pound broccoli heads, stems removed and cut to bite sized pieces

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

pinch of red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

2 oz. crumbled feta cheese

Preheat oven to 400° and prepare broccoli in a sheet pan by layering evenly and coating in the olive oil and lemon juice mixture.  Sprinkle with red pepper flake, salt and pepper.  Roast in oven until edges brown, approximately 15-20 minutes.  Let cool for about 5 minutes and then toss with prepared orzo and feta cheese. Serve room temperature.

And as if that wasn’t enough, as I pulled away I heard the sounds of Tricky Britches billowing out some sweet bluegrass sounds…those boys can hum!  Thanks to jtmilla20 for catching it on Saturday…listen to a sample here!  We are a lucky bunch to have SOTJ.

Saturday’s Basket is written by a Forest Hill resident and is a weekly review of South of the James Market purchases and the recipes she creates with her market finds. View these and more recipes at Pantry2Plate, a food blog with stories of cooking as best as she knows how.