Orzo

Orzo is a short-cut pasta shaped like a large grain of rice, made from wheat flour often blended with semolina, and associated with cooking around the Mediterranean basin. It is used in soups such as Greek avgolemono and Italian minestrone, prepared as a pilaf or salad ingredient, baked into casseroles, or cooked risotto style by boiling and lightly frying it, and can be tinted with ingredients such as saffron or squid ink for colored variations. The name orzo is standard in North America, but in Italy the same word usually refers to barley rather than to this pasta shape.