Tangy Chicken with Orzo
Posted by in Food
I wasn’t excited about this recipe, then I saw Martha and Sarah Carey make it on tv and thought I would give it a try. I did a major cheat though – I used boneless, skinless breasts. But it actually worked out.
You brown the chicken (I did this quickly) then cook onion and garlic. Add tomatoes (I used canned whole tomatoes) and vinegar and cook in the oven. I did my stovetop cooking in a skillet and transferred to a glass baking dish.
The orzo was easy – cook some diced carrot then add the orzo and water and boil.
A few criticisms. First of all, there was not enough sauce. If you’re serving something like this with plain orzo, you’ve got to have enough sauce to cover the orzo. I would add more tomato and a little more vinegar to increase the amount of sauce. And I would add some seasonings to the orzo which was dull and boring. Other than that, the basic idea of this recipe is a nice one and it was relatively quick to whip up.
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I had never tired orzo until I found a recipe here a few months back that involved lemon chicken and orzo. I thought it was ok, but my husband didn’t like the texture. Do you find orzo an acquired taste?
The issue of not having enough sauce is probably due to the fact that you have subbed skinless/boneless chicken breasts. Cooking chicken with skin renders a lot of fat that contributes to the pan sauce. I have found that with certain recipes you just can’t substitute skinless chicken without having problems with the sauce.
I don’t think that was it. Martha did not have much sauce when she made it on tv and did not put the sauce on the orzo. But I would never just eat plain orzo and want more tomato-based sauce with mine.
I think the problem is that it looks like rice but doesn’t taste like it. Most people are used to pasta in bigger pieces so it takes some getting used to.
Yeah I’m not a big fan of plain starch sidedishes –rice, orzo etc. There HAS to be a sauce. Just seems like a waste of calories otherwise. One exception is mashed potatoes, but I suppose the sauce is kind of built in.