Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes and Romano Cheese

This is one of our long ago recipes. For a few years, whenever we find a dish that both of us like, Food Gal has saved the recipe for future use. This dish is one of the few, the proud, the re-used recipes. For shrimp recipes, we used to use the pre-cooked, deveined frozen shrimp. We have since found that the cleaned and deveined but not cooked frozen shrimp work better and taste less fishy.

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1	cup	uncooked orzo
2	TBSP	olive oil, divided
3/4	tsp	salt, divided
1/4	tsp	black pepper, divided
1	lb.	medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1	cup	Vidalia or sweet onion, chopped
1	TBSP	bottled, minced garlic
1/4	tsp	crushed red pepper
2	cups	cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3	cup	grated Romano cheese (we use the Kraft mixture with Asiago)
1/3	cup	chopped fresh basil
Cook pasta according to directions, omitting salt and fat. While pasta cooks, heat 1 TBSP oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper evenly over shrimp. Add shrimp to pan and cook for 1-2 minutes per side or until done. Remove from pan. Add remaining 1 TBSP olive oil to pan. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper. Cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes. Cook 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in pasta and shrimp. Cook 1 minute more until heated through. Remove from heat and stir in remaining salt, black pepper, cheese, and basil. Yield: 4 servings

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Food Guys says: This dish is one that I enjoy quite a bit. The pasta makes it filling and the red pepper and basil add a decent amount of spice and flavor. Served in a bowl, the cheese gets to seep down into everything and give it a nice, uniform flavor. We'll be eating this again and again, especially since our cherry tomatoes do well every year. I rank this one:

Food Gal says: This is one of our staple recipes. Food Guy burned the shrimp a little, so we could have done without that. Unfortunately we were low on olive oil due to all the zucchini usage, and the pan was coated with olive oil spray instead of straight olive oil. This is a good dish, the flavors all go together well. A dish we will repeat: