Tender, moist chicken perfect for any occasion
I love the simplicity of this chicken and orzo pot roast
- SERVES: 4
- PREP TIME: 15 mins
- COOKING TIME: 1.10 hrs
- DIFFICULTY: easy
- IDEAL FOR: family/friends, Sunday roast, weekend meal
- BUDGET: £
Chicken and orzo pot roast
It’s not a great secret.
Pot-roasting chicken makes it tender, juicy, and easy to deliver a fantastic meal.
Add in the orzo which absorbs all flavourful juices
And you’re onto a winner.
The bonus is, you have one pan to deal with at the end of a great meal.
What is orzo
The translation of orzo is ‘barley’ and is made from durum wheat (ground semolina) but looks like grain when unprocessed.
It’s a rice-shaped pasta that can be used as pasta or cooked used a bit like rice.
You’ll mainly come across it in soups or salads.
Orzo is categorised in the pasta world as ‘pastina’ meaning little pasta.
How to cook orzo
It’s pretty simple to cook and being small means you can’t really get it too wrong.
Just cook orzo as you normally would for pasta – salted boiling water, simmer for 8 – 10 mins.
Or as in this pot roast, simply add it to the chicken dish 15 mins before it’s done and let it absorb the lovely chicken stock and chicken juices.
What can you substitute orzo
Rice, pastina, risi.
Pasta origin
I think most people would say pasta is Italian.
But I’ve added this in, just so you can have a nice debate around the dinner table one evening.
China often gets the credit for inventing pasta with its variety of noodles.
And in the 13th century the explorer, Marco Polo, brought it back from the Far East.
But some say it’s of Greek or Arabic origin.
Tracing back food history is always very murky.
But what we do know for certain is that when you think of pasta.
You think of Italy.
I’ll let you debate it.
But for more information on pasta shapes, visit here.
Recipe: Inspired by Delicious Magazine
Chicken and orzo pot roast
Ingredients
- 1.8 kg free-range chicken
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch of spring onions
- 200 g asparagus
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- 300 ml white wine
- 800 ml chicken stock
- 300 g orzo
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 160°C fan. Put a large, lidded, casserole dish on a high heat and add the oil. Once hot, add the spring onions and cook for a minute or so on each side until golden, then remove to a plate with tongs. Do the same with the asparagus. Set aside for later.
- Season the chicken, then add to the pan breast-side down and cook for about 3 minutes until the skin is golden. Turn it over and reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic to the pan, stirring it around the chicken and pour in the wine and bubble for a few minutes until reduced a little, then pour in the stock. Bring to a boil, put the lid on and pop in the oven and roast for 1 hour 10 minutes.
- Take the pot out of the oven, then stir the orzo, and the juice of a lemon and the zest. Then add the spring onions and asparagus into the liquid around the chicken.Cover again and return to the oven for 15 minutes.Now, remove the lid and leave it to stand for 15 minutes – to rest the chicken and so the orzo can finish absorbing the liquid.