Baked Orzo with Chicken from Cooking and Beer

Yeah so I have a problem with adding too much cayenne to things.

I'm gonna blame Chef John on this one. I recently bought a giant shaker of cayenne at Costco and have since been putting it in everything. It's pretty strong, so a little goes a long way, but I really enjoy the flavour. It honestly just tastes like spice, you can't actually taste the flavour of the pepper, which I don't like. So in this case with the orzo, you couldn't exactly taste the spice but you could really feel it. 

This was another kitchen sink recipe, where we had leftover chicken from Nando's and I had recently got a bag of orzo that was on sale. A quick Google search led me to this recipe, which I ended up liking a lot.

As goes with kitchen sink recipes, many things are omitted and subbed to make use with what you have. I only had onion on hand so I omitted the carrot and the celery and used two onions. I took out the parmesan because I was trying to make it a bit healthier, and the mozzarella measurement was pretty haphazard, I just cubed half of a fist sized ball of mozzarella we had in the fridge (also on sale :P). The chicken came with a tangy peri peri sauce, so I added the two tablespoons we had leftover into the mix. I had no fresh oregano. Who has fresh oregano? But in general, my family is not one who buys fresh herbs.

Even with all these substitutions though, this turned out pretty delicious. I think I captured the general vibe of the dish. I've never had orzo before, and I realize it's just a different shaped pasta, but made in this way it was almost a cross between rice and pasta and it really soaked up the flavour of the chicken. I did mess up in one sense by using too big a dish and so I had some uncooked bits of orzo along the edges of the pan.

I would make this again. Definitely.

Recipe from: http://www.cookingandbeer.com/2015/08/baked-orzo-with-chicken/

INGREDIENTS:
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts, fully-cooked and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
5 cloves of garlic, finely minced
12 ounces dry orzo pasta
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup fresh oregano
6 ounces mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 roma tomatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and black pepper
fresh chopped parsley, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the veggies are just tender. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the orzo and tomato paste. Stir to mix well and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
3. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the chicken, stock, oregano mozzarella, parmesan and a generous amount of salt and black pepper. Mix well and transfer to a large baking dish. Place the sliced tomatoes on top and sprinkle with dry oregano.
4. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through. Remove from heat and serve garnished with fresh parsley.
5. Enjoy!