I found this recipe online a month or so ago and have been meaning to try it but was out of chicken breast until recently. I made my way to the website because it was featured in a CNN.com article: http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/01/floppy-hats-and-decent-food-jenny.html
It's from a Jenny Craig cookbook, but it sure doesn't taste like diet food!
Moroccan Chicken with Orzo
1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large clove garlic, minced
14-16 ounces chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (1" or smaller)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1) Cook orzo in salted water until al dente. Drain and set aside.
2) While orzo is cooking, get out a medium bowl. Add paprika, cumin, salt, turmeric, cinnamon and garlic, and stir to combine. Add chicken and stir until entirely coated with mix.
3) In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Saute about 4 minutes, until it's a little soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add chicken. Brown chicken, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 more minutes. Pour in broth and raisins. Drop heat back to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes.
4) Kill heat. Remove skillet from burner. Pour cooked orzo into skillet. Stir until thoroughly combined. Top with fresh cilantro and serve.
How I changed it:
I didn't have chicken broth; I had chicken bouillon. Instead of draining the orzo, I stirred in the bouillon powder into the pasta water.
I didn't add raisins. The Hubs doesn't like raisins and I want to get his opinion on the recipe. If he eats it, maybe we'll eat it more often when he's not on the Atkins diet.
I also didn't add cilantro. If I'd had some, I would have used it but I am currently out!
Saffron threads are expensive. Even if I had a full time job I wouldn't buy them. I used turmeric.
Definitely delicious. It's not spicy hot, but spicy warm like a sweet curry. I went back for seconds. The recipe is supposed to make 5 servings. But it's the only thing I ate for dinner, so maybe there are only three servings if you don't have a side of vegetables.
The wine I'm trying tonight is Snapping Turtle Chardonnay. It is about a $10 bottle of wine. Even chilled, there isn't a bite. I'd buy it again. I didn't eat it with the chicken and orzo. This is my after-dinner-need-a-drink-so-i-can-sleep drink. I'm exhausted physically after driving, well riding while Jenny drove, to a jobsite 1-1/2 hours away. We had work to do there and drove there three days this week. I'm thinking part time work is for the birds!
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