Monday, November 2, 2009

WINNER WINNER, CHICKEN, sun-dried tomato, and orzo DINNER!

Now THIS is a keeper! Nick said it was one of his favorites! Try it out, and see what you think. I pulled this off of eatingwell.com and it had received 5 stars. We agree with the ratings! I took step by step photos, so enjoy the progress of the pictures. Here's a teaser though of the end product!



Okay so here we go!

Ingredients:
8 oz of whole wheat orzo (WHOLE WHEAT TASTES COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THAN WHITE, but if you can't find it, go with white anyways!)
1 cup water
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, divided
1 plum tomato, diced
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1.5 t dried marjoram, divided
1 T red wine vinegar
2 t plus  1T olive oil, divided
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves (I bought 3 big whole breasts and butterflied them because they were cheaper!)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 bag frozen artichoke hearts (Couldn't find these, so I used 2 cans of whole artichoke hearts, but really, 1 can would have been plenty, quartered!)
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Directions:
First, cook the orzo according to the box directions. Drain and rinse. Set aside.
Meanwhile,  place the water, half of the sun-dried tomatoes, the plum tomato, the garlic, 1 t of the marjoram, the vinegar, and 2 t of the olive oil in a food processor or blender. Pulse until mixed, but still chunky! It will resemble salsa:




A this point, transfer the juice/sauce into a pan to boil it in soon!
Season your chicken on both sides with salt and pepper and brown in a skillet with 1 T of the remaining olive oil. My chicken took awhile, but if you have thinner pieces, probably about 2-3 minutes per side. Mine were more like 5-6 minutes per side!




At this point, once they have finished cooking, set them aside and cover them to keep them warm.
Now, pour your tomato sauce into a pan and bring to a boil. Measure out about 1/2 of a cup and set aside (to pour over chicken at the end before serving!)




Once it is boiling, reduce heat and add the remaining sun-dried tomatoes, orzo, artichoke hearts (drain these if you buy the canned kind!), and 6 T of parmesan cheese. Cook about 2 minutes until orzo has been warmed and cheese is melted throughout pot:




At this point, you may be sketched out by my pictures. BUT PLEASE. I wouldn't post a bad recipe!
You can either slice up the chicken and serve it over the orzo, or you can leave it as breasts (which for time's sake, I did!)
Top each person's plate of chicken and orzo with a sprinkle of dried marjoram, parmesan cheese, and reserved sauce.
TO DIE FOR. Eat 2 servings- there's no way you can't! AND TRY TO FIND THE WHOLE WHEAT ORZO!

A couple pictures for you!


ENJOY :)



Nick sure did! WE BOTH went back for seconds! I cannot urge you enough to MAKE THIS DISH! It only takes a total of about 30 minutes!


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