Tuscany Chicken and Orzo With Bean Dressing

Submitted by IronChefArtemslore

"The chicken in this dish was created to go with the orzo. You could make the dishes separately, but they are perfect together. A note, these directions will produce an orzo with creamy risotto like texture. If that's not for you, just make the orzo on the stovetop according to package directions. I do not include a lot of salt in my recipes, so you may have to add more to taste."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts or 4 chicken pieces
• 1 cup white wine
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1 lemon, juice of, only
• 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
• 1 cup orzo pasta
• 1 3⁄4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup zucchini (diced)
• 1 tomatoes (diced)
• 1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons spaghetti sauce

directions

1. Mix chicken through Italian seasoning in a dish and let marinate overnight. Dice the zucchini and tomato, then mix them together. Store these in the refrigerator overnight too.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Heat a fry pan on the stove top on high till hot, then turn the heat down to medium high. Remove chicken from marinade (but keep the liquid), salt and pepper both sides of the meat and sear the chicken in the fry pan till brown, about 3 minutes per side.
4. Place the browned chicken on a greased baking sheet (which has a rim to catch the chicken juices).
5. Mix the orzo, diced zucchini, diced tomato, and 1.75 cups chicken broth in a casserole, (I use a loaf pan). Cover tightly with foil.
6. Place the chicken and the orzo in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes (if using chicken pieces, bake for 30 minutes however the orzo will only needs 30 minutes).
7. Now back to the chicken marinade. Use the marinade to deglaze the fry pan. Drain and rinse the bean several times (to remove the salt).
8. Add the beans, 2 tbs spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of broth to the marinade in the fry pan, and simmer till reduced by one third. When the sauce is reduced, remove the bay leaf and rosemary stem.
9. When the chicken and orzo are cooked; its time to plate the food. Spread the orzo on your best Tuscan style-severing platter, then the chicken, and finish by pouring the bean sauce over the whole dish!

Reviews

[COOKGIRl]

Took me awhile to jump through the hoops with this one. I used whole wheat couscous because I misread the ingredients' list-my fault. The taste was good but had some difficulty in reading the steps.