Make it vegetarian
This is, I should say, delicious even without the steak. A lovely veggie main. Cosy and comforting. I love that you can make it as creamy as you like and can add cheese or leave it out depending on your mood. Really this is a recipe to make your own and adapt to your taste and needs.

Talking of cheese
Parmesan is a given. Treat this like a risotto and add a blanket of parmesan, and dare I say, a little knob of butter. Now I’ve made this with taleggio and it was great. Taleggio has a creamy, buttery flavour, it’s not overly tangy, but it does have a tart aftertaste. It works really well with the earthiness of the mushrooms - try adding it to golden fried mushrooms in a pan, letting it melt and then scooping onto toast. So good. But this orzo would also be v good with Boursin, or cream cheese, or even a little knob of goat’s cheese if you love goat’s cheese. The possibilities are endless. And delicious. Deliciously endless.

Chimichurri
I think traditionally it’s coriander, but I love using a mix of herbs and truly I tend to just use what I have to hand and what needs using up. It’s lovely with whatever you have, coriander, parsley, chives, basil..all v good. I like doing it by hand and chopping the onion very finely, then plonking the herbs on a chopping board and chopping them very finely and then just adding the capers and everything except the vinegar and oils. Then just keep chopping it until it’s all very fine. Finish it in a bowl and add as much oil as you need for it to be a drizzling affair. OR you can do it in a food processor - just pulse don’t pulverise it as it’s nice when it has a little bit of a chunk to it.

Mushrooms
Any mushrooms will do. You can go fancy and use chanterelle or oyster mushrooms or just bog standard mushrooms from the supermarket. All will work and all will be delicious. I do prefer the chestnut variety if I have the choice as I think they are just a bit more interesting.