Jun 24 2016
It was a beautiful day today. I could have cooked outside but this dish was easier to do inside in my CI skillet. This is fairly easy and a one skillet meal; it could be done outside or camping. We needed a change from red meat so this was good.
The recipe was adapted from Zrarita Baker’s at Honest Cooking. I had a one pound package of basil garlic, sundried tomato marinated chicken breasts from my butcher otherwise I followed her recipe pretty close. I add my onions and garlic at the same time, less likely to get burnt garlic. I ended up only using about 2 ½ cups of the chicken stock. I just used what olive oil I had from draining the tomatoes since it looked like plenty.
The grandson came down, sanded a bench for me and watered the garden and flowers. He decided to stay and eat supper with us. I heated up some savory garlic bread knots to have with it.
We all liked it and got full! My wife is not crazy about sundried tomatoes but I love using them and you get a more intense tomato flavor from them over just plain tomatoes. I think rice would have worked well with this too.
Smokin Don
Recipe:
Sun Dried Tomato Chicken with Orzo
Author: Zrinka Baker
Serves: 4 servings
Resembling a more complicated risotto, this one-pan chicken is straight forward and full of flavor from other ingredients including oregano and rich cheese.
Ingredients
• 1 lb chicken breast
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• ? cup sun dried tomatoes, drained from oil
• 1-2 Tbsp oil from tomatoes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1? cup orzo pasta
• 3 Tbsp tomato paste
• ¼ cup wine (red or white)
• 3½ cup chicken stock, warm (hot is even better)
• ½ tsp oregano
• ¼ tsp dry thyme
• ¼ tsp lemon zest
• ½ tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt, black pepper
• grated Parmesan cheese
• chopped parsley (optional)
Instructions
1. Cut chicken breast in bite-sized cubes and season with salt and pepper.
2. Put olive oil and oil that you reserved when draining tomatoes in a pan or skillet and heat over medium high heat. Fry the chicken until golden. Remove from pan and set aside.
3. Sauté onion until translucent. Add garlic and fry for a few seconds until garlic is fragrant.
4. Add orzo and fry about 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned.
5. Stir in tomato paste, sun dried tomatoes, wine, oregano, thyme, lemon zest, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Return chicken cubes to the pan.
6. Cook, adding chicken stock one ladle at a time and stirring often, until orzo is soft. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
7. Serve immediately, sprinkled with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese.
