Friday, March 18, 2011

Mushroom Chicken with Orzo

I just made this recipe up as I went, and it was delicious. Isn't that always the way it happens? Didn't follow a guide, so now I have no way to exactly re-create it! Oh well, here is what I did.


I thawed chicken breasts and seasoned with salt, pepper & garlic powder. I made a batter of italian breadcrumbs and panko. (side note: I've found that because chicken has a wet feeling that batter will stick to it and you don't have to mess with that "breading station" egg, flour, milk etc. I sprinkle a thin layer across the whole surface of a large dinner plate, place my chicken on them, press really good so they stick, flip over cover the other side and you're done!

I got a skillet really hot and seared the chicken for a few mins on each side, in just a little bit of olive oil (not frying), just searing.

Then transferred to a cooling rack covered with foil, on top of a baking dish covered in foil. The cooling rack keeps the chicken up off the bottom of the pan so the heat can transfer all around it. Put in a 350 degree oven, while the chicken finishes cooking, I made the mushroom sauce.
In the same pan, I added some more olive oil, sauteed a diced onion & sliced mushrooms & of course garlic!
While the mushrooms and onions sauteed, I boiled orzo, based on the box directions. Poor Orzo, it's the forgotten pasta. I LOVE it.When the mushroom & onion mixture was browned I deglazed the pan with chicken stock and let simmer to thicken. (you could add some cream at this step too, which would be heavenly!)


Here is the finished product. Doesn't that BAKED chicken looked FRIED? The stock made a thin sauce to pour over the orzo. YUMMY.