Orzo

Orzo, also known in Italy as risoni, and popular in Greek cuisine as kritharaki, is a form of short-cut pasta shaped like a large grain of rice. Orzo is made from flour, often with semolina.
The name orzo is common for this pasta shape in North America, but less so in Italy, where the word usually means 'barley'.

Preparation

There are many different ways to serve orzo. It can be an ingredient in soup, including avgolemono, a Greek soup, and in Italian soups, such as minestrone. It can also be part of a salad, a pilaf, or giouvetsi, or baked in a casserole.
It can also be boiled and lightly fried, to create a dish similar to risotto.
When the pasta is made, orzo can be colored by saffron, chilies, and black beans to yield yellow, orange, or black pasta.

Other names

Orzo is essentially identical to the κριθαράκι, or μανέστρα in Greek cuisine, arpa şehriye in Turkish cooking, and لسان العصفور in Egyptian cooking. In Spain, the equivalent pasta is called piñones or gurullos. Ptitim is a rice-grain-shaped pasta developed in the 1950s in Israel as a substitute for rice.
It is also part of the traditional cuisine of eastern France, from Lorraine to Provence, where orzo is called pépinettes or riewele depending on the region. In Alsace, orzo is typically served in a chicken broth.