Tag: orzo

Lemon Orzo with Spinach & Veggies

The other night my husband and I were trying to come up with an unusual side dish to pair with a brisket I had cooking in the crockpot and this dish was born.

We wanted something flavorful and bright that could be a little acidic to go with the rich brisket.

This was a hit. It takes a little time, but it’s easy and the result is crazy delicious!

Ingredients

  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 red bell pepper diced or 3-4 small bell peppers sliced into small rings
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 sliced red onion (OPTIONAL)
  • 1 cup Orzo
  • 32 ounces of chicken stock (use veggie stock if you’re vegetarian)
  • 2 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning (use your favorite-I use the kind that comes in a grinder)
  • 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped
  • 1 container of fresh baby spinach
  • Zest of 3-4 lemons, juice of 1 lemon
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

  • In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauté onion and peppers until the onion is softened but not all the way cooked.
  • Add the garlic, cook until fragrant (only 1-2 minutes).
  • Stir in the orzo to toast it in the pan. (About 5 minutes) At this point you may want to add a splash more olive oil IF needed. Also add the red onion.
  • Season with half the Italian seasoning. Keep stirring.
  • Add 2 cups of the chicken broth. Let it simmer until the broth is absorbed by the orzo. Stir in the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Add 2 more cups of broth, stirring and simmering until all the broth is absorbed. I used the entire box of broth.
  • Stir in more Italian seasoning
  • Off the heat, stir in the fresh spinach, dill, chives and the rest of the lemon zest.
Toasting the orzo in the olive oil prior to adding the liquid.
First couple of cups of broth added. Stir and simmer until the orzo absorbs it, then add more.
Liquid just about absorbed, ready for more.
We served this dish with the best beef brisket ever! That recipe is coming soon!

Lemon-Basil Brown Butter Chicken

This was intended to be lemon chicken, but I goofed and let my butter get brown. Introducing Lemon-Basil Brown Butter Chicken ala Bobbe! It ended up being very tasty (and it smelled delightful too!)

At some point I will stop using my iPad to do my photos in favor of using the canon that just sits upstairs feeling lonely. Although most of the time I’m fine with my photos, the iPad just could not capture a great image of this dish. Trust me, it received rave reviews from the hubs and I actually loved it too. (I can always find some way to be critical of my creations, but not this time.)

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This started out to be lemon chicken but I got lazy when it was time to make the sauce, so it became lemon-basil brown butter chicken because I let my butter get too brown. Happy accident.

The first step was to butterfly and pound the chicken breasts into about 1/4″ cutlets. Then I salted and peppered each side and dredged them in a seasoned flour mixture. (Lemon pepper & Italian seasoning.)

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Once I had all of the cutlets dredged on both sides. I set them aside in order to assemble my sauce ingredients.

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Cast of characters for the sauce: chicken broth, zest of three lemons, juice of three lemons (I didn’t cut or squeeze the lemons until I was sure I would need them all.), garlic, basil, olive oil, a little flour and BUTTER. (Butter was late for the photo-op. I trust everyone has seen butter before!)

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Next I heated some butter and olive oil to medium high in my cast iron skillet and I added the first cutlet in. This guy was pretty large, so I didn’t try to crowd the pan with the other one. Instead, I did them in batches.

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Once browned, I took them out and set them aside. At this point I added some more butter and a little flour and some chicken broth and started whisking away. Then came the lemon juice and zest, the basil and at the very end; the garlic.

Here is a video of what it looked like. I did add some more liquid to it after this because I didn’t want it to be too thick.

We served it over plain orzo with a side of delightfully perfect roasted Brussels sprouts and rainbow carrots.

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And here you have it! I garnished mine with cilantro even though there isn’t cilantro in the dish. I failed to save some fresh basil leaves, so I improvised. LOL! This is a no-no in the real world; but since this is “Bobbe’s World”, I get to do what I want!

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Ingredients:
2-4 chicken breasts, butterflied and pounded to ¼”
2 ¼ cups flour
1-2 Tbsp. lemon pepper (optional)
1-2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil
3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter (use REAL full-fat butter, anything else is poison!)
3 cloves garlic slivered (can be chopped if you are lazy)
16 oz. Chicken broth
Zest & juice of three lemons
½ fresh chopped basil

Directions:

Create a flour dredge using 2 cups of flour mixed with 1-2 Tbsp. lemon pepper & Italian seasoning.

Butterfly the chicken and pound into ¼” cutlets. Salt & Pepper both sides.

Heat a cast iron skillet to medium high, add in 2 Tbsp. olive oil & 2 Tbsp. butter. Fry the chicken until golden brown on both sides (about 4-5 minutes per side).

While the chicken is in the pan, assemble the ingredients for the pan sauce:
Butter, Flour, Chicken broth, Lemon zest, Lemon juice, Chopped Basil, Garlic.

When the chicken has finished cooking, remove to a plate. Using the same skillet with the chicken drippings: whisk in 1-2 Tbsp. butter, then 1-2 Tbsp. flour, and the chicken broth. Continue whisking until the lumps are out and you have a smooth consistency. Reduce heat to medium and while still whisking, add the zest, juice, basil and lastly, the garlic. Continue whisking about 2 minutes more.

At this point, you may add the chicken back to the pan OR if you are serving it over rice or noodles, or in our case, orzo; you may want to wait and drizzle the sauce over the top. Anyway you do it will be the right way for you!

 

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