My Chicken Orzo Primavera

I went to The Fresh Market yesterday to buy some decaf hazelnut coffee (they have the best) and I was inspired by other food I saw there.  I hardly ever shop at The Fresh Market because it's just really expensive, but I loved looking at their prepared foods.  It was all so pretty and looked delicious.  The thing that caught my eye was an orzo salad.  I thought, "I should make something with orzo," and so that's what I did.

I started looking for recipes online and I could not find anything that was quite what I was craving.  I've been wanting to cook something like a veggie pasta primavera, so I just figured I would combine these things.  O... and then I had to add some chicken because Ray does not think that it's dinner without some type of meat.  I don't think it's dinner without veggies and he doesn't think it's dinner without meat, so I guess we help each other keep a balanced diet.

Here's what I used:

1 chicken breast cut into strips
Handful of baby carrots
1/4 of a whole onion
1 red bell pepper
2 mushrooms
1 head of broccoli
1 squash
1 1/2 cups of peas
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 1/4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 pound orzo
Salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste

1. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan on medium-low heat.  I don't like to use a non-stick pan, so I don't know what to call this pan.  Is it a "sticky" pan?  Don't think so, but I'll call it my sticky pan.  Mix around the olive oil and the butter and when it's warm add the diced onion and minced garlic.  I always mince my own garlic and I think that it makes a huge difference in the flavor.  Stir around for a couple of minutes until it smells yummy and gets a little golden.

2. Now throw in the strips of chicken.  I just put some salt and pepper on either side of the chicken.  It does not take long at all to cook.  While it cooked, I was busy chopping my veggies.

3. Flip the chicken and when it has some nice color, it's finished.

4. Remove the chicken from the pan when it's finished.  I hate the taste of chicken when it's cooked to death.  I'm afraid of raw chicken, but this stuff is done and it does not need to continue to cook, so resist the urge to keep cooking.  Take it off the heat, put it on a plate, and set it to the side.

5. Now look at all the pretty veggies!  Chop them how you want them... this is what I wanted:

6. Throw the veggies in the pan with the garlic, onions, and oil.  My pan was getting a little dry, so I added about a tablespoon of olive oil.  Just cook the veggies for a couple of minutes.  Some people like their veggies crunchy.  Some people like their veggies mushy.  I tried to go somewhere in between.  When they are cooked a little less than you want, go ahead and take them out of the pan.  This is what mine looked like right before I took them out of the pan.

7. Right after I took the veggies out of the pan, I started cooking my orzo according to package instructions. I already had the water boiling, so this was a good time to throw the orzo in the pot.  Salt the water once the pasta is in and cook until it's ready.  When it's done, just set it to the side.

8. After you've started the orzo, start the creamy sauce!  This is the good stuff.  Your pan is pretty much empty at this point... you might just have some lingering pieces of veggies on the bottom and that's fine.  First add 1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth.  Scrape anything off the bottom as the broth is simmering.  You don't want to miss any of the good stuff on the bottom.  After about a minute, add the cup of heavy cream, the 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste.  Note about the Italian seasoning: I planned on using fresh basil from my backyard but something ATE my basil.  It was a sad moment.  The Italian seasoning was not bad, but it was not my first choice either.  Anyway, let it simmer for a few minutes and taste it to make sure that the spices are how you like them.

9. When the sauce tastes how you want it, go ahead and throw the veggies back in the sauce.  The veggies look so good soaking up the creamy goodness.

10. Now throw the cooked and drained orzo into the pan and mix it all together.

11. This was when I started to get excited.  I could have cooked less orzo for the amount of veggies, but that's up to you.  Now to finish it off, just scoop out of the pan as much as you want.    Finally, put the chicken on top of the orzo and veggies and top that with some parmesan cheese.

 12. Now eat it!  I only had enough chicken for the two of us since I just cooked one chicken breast.  Nevertheless, I had enough veggies and orzo for about 3-4 more servings, so to even it out you could add 2 more chicken breasts to make the dish for about 6 people.  For us, we just have leftovers without chicken which is perfectly fine with me because I don't like leftover chicken.

13. Now that I've finished my blog, I think I'm going to go back to the kitchen and get seconds!  Yum!  Try this, people!  It's good :)