Yep, it's another chicken orzo dish!

So obviously, I'm a sucker for orzo and chicken dishes.  They are just so easy to make and so versatile!  I found this one on myrecipes.com, and it is another one from Cooking Light (the October 2005 issue).  As usual, I decided to play with it a bit and took some suggestions from the reviewers on the website and added feta and substituted roasted red peppers for regular red peppers. You may notice a lack of additional salt in the recipe, but between the feta and the capers, it was fine by me.

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.  Rick is having a hectic week so I won't get to see him until tomorrow, but now, I have leftovers for the rest of the week! I enjoyed it with pita bread and a little bit of the tzatziki sauce that I made last week.  Here's my rendition!

 Orzo with Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, and Feta


Ingredients
2 chicken breasts
1 cup of uncooked orzo
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup of roasted red pepper chopped
2 tablespoons capers (drained)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Greek seasoning 
Juice of 1 lemon

4 oz crumbled feta cheese
Extra virgin olive oil


Directions
Cook orzo according to the directions on the package.
While the orzo is cooking, season chicken with pepper, and grill chicken on George Foreman grill (or they can be sauteed in a pan with olive oil or cooking spray) until cooked thoroughly.  Saute onions and garlic in a small pan in a little bit of olive oil until tender.

Mix Greek seasoning, lemon juice, capers, olive oil, and roasted red peppers in a bowl.  Add onion and garlic to the bowl.  Combine orzo, chicken, and feta in a larger bowl with the roasted red pepper mixture. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Serve warm (leftovers are great cold, too!).


Enjoy!

Another yummy chicken orzo dish

With two clinical days in a row, I was looking for a recipe that I could make and eat on several occasions (mainly for lunch at the hospital). I had this recipe for Cajun chicken with capers and lemon in my epicurious.com recipe box, and while reading over the reviews, I read one in which the cook had served it over orzo....perfect!!!! I knew that it was going to need a little bit more than just the sauce if I were going to stretch it over a couple of meals. I chopped half of a sweet onion and sauteed that with probably about 1/3 of a package of mushrooms that I had in the refrigerator and 2 cloves of garlic. Since Rick wasn't here, it was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the mushrooms! I also added a little bit of white cooking wine to the sauce. Once again, a winner!!! Here's the recipe that I came up with...

Cajun Chicken Orzo with a Lemon-Caper Sauce

Ingredients
1 package of skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 gloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons of capers
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 package of mushrooms
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons white wine
1/2 box orzo
Olive oil

Directions
Mix flour, Cajun seasoning, and paprika together in a shallow bowl.

Cook orzo according to directions on box. Drain and return to the pot.

While orzo is cooking, cut chicken breasts in half and dip in flour mixture. Be sure to cover the chicken completely. Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until cooked (turning with tongs). When the chicken is cooked and no longer pink in the center, cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and mix with the orzo.

Add a little bit more olive oil, mushrooms, garlic, and onion to the same skillet. Once the onions become soft, add broth, capers, lemon juice, and white wine to skillet. Bring to boil and let the sauce thicken a little bit. Add to the pot with the orzo and chicken and stir. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

The orzo recipes...in honor of Nicole

Since I haven't been able to cook lately because of an exam today in pediatrics, I thought I'd share two super simple dishes just for fun. Hopefully, tonight, Rick and I will be able to have dinner together. Today, he told me via email that he grilled out last night while I was slaving away in the library. He did lemon pepper chicken last night, and he was enjoying leftovers at work when I heard from him. You know, I really hate when school gets busy, and we don't get to see each other. I think it makes me a little grumpy, too. At least it will be over in December!!! 


During my first semester of nursing school, I came upon this recipe while looking for a side dish. Unfortunately, Rick and I can't seem to remember which one, though. That semester, I was required to do some sort of community service activity for one of my classes, and I signed up to go to a potluck dinner that SNA was doing at the Ansonborough House in downtown Charleston. I decided that this dish would be an easy, delicious one to take. When making the orzo with artichoke hearts and pine nuts, I followed some of the suggestions from the reviewers on the epicurious.com website and added capers, 3 cheese blend, and grilled chicken. The day of the potluck, I was talking about it to my clinical instructor Nicole about it, and she wanted me to send her the recipe. Due to my hectic schedule in nursing school, I kept forgetting to send it to her. This semester, I ran into her at the VA during one of our community clinicals, and I am happy to report that I have finally sent it to her. Luckily for her, that recipe inspired this other one, too, and I was able to send it as well. These dishes are great either hot or cold! Enjoy!

Here is the original untouched recipe.

Orzo with Artichokes and Pine Nuts

Gourmet May 2006

Canned artichoke hearts give this dish a Mediterranean flavor without the work involved in preparing fresh ones.

Yield: Makes 4 side-dish servings
Active Time: 15 min
Total Time: 15 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups orzo (10 oz)
3 tablespoons pine nuts
1 (14-oz) can whole artichoke hearts (not marinated)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

Preparations
Cook orzo in a 4- to 5-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander.

While orzo cooks, lightly toast pine nuts in a dry small skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute, then coarsely chop.
Drain artichoke hearts in a large sieve and rinse well. Pull off leaves from bases of hearts and quarter bases. Rinse leaves and bases well, then drain thoroughly.
Stir together oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add orzo, pine nuts, artichokes (leaves and bases), parsley, and zest and toss to combine.


My changes:

• added two grilled chicken breasts that have been seasoned with Italian seasoning and marinaded for about 30 minutes with the seasoning and red wine vinegar and a little bit of lemon juice prior to grilling. I shred/chop it up and mix it in.
  
• added about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of 3 Cheese Blend (Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano)
• added chopped capers.

That recipe along with some leftover basil (now we grow our own!) inspired this recipe.

1 container of Feta cheese with tomato basil

½ Red onion (minced)

3 cloves of Garlic (minced)

2-3 tablespoons Fresh Basil (chopped)

3 chicken breasts

2 marinated artichoke hearts (if they are quartered, use 8 to make 2 full artichoke hearts)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar

Red pepper flakes

½ box of orzo

Marinate chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar, one clove garlic, ground pepper, (3-4 twists), a dash of red pepper flakes, and one teaspoon basil for around 30 minutes.

Fix orzo per box instructions. Drain and return to pot.

Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil with ¼ teaspoon basil in a pan and then add to orzo. Add remaining basil, feta cheese, and artichoke hearts to orzo.

In the same pan, add chicken and some of the marinade and sauté chicken breasts until done. Chop and shred chicken and add it to the orzo. Pepper to taste. Mix together thoroughly and serve.