Creamy Chicken Orzo

This is one dang fast and easy din­ner. Cook your chicken and chop your veg­gies ahead of time and it takes maybe 15 min­utes, tops to throw together and fin­ish! The three col­ors of pep­pers look amaz­ing and it’s so CREAMY!  Those teeny, tiny lit­tle bits of pasta just let them­selves be sur­rounded by all that lush, creamy sauce–YUM! I highly approve of creamy food. Creamy food has a solid place in my world. I think as long as you bal­ance your naughty foods with your nice foods, then everyone’s happy!  Makes awe­some left­overs, just thin it out with a lit­tle cream (of course!) or use chicken broth instead if you like.

serves 6–8 people

Creamy Chicken Orzo

1 1/2 pounds bone­less, skin­less chicken ten­ders (or breasts–whatever your preference)

1 table­spoon olive or veg­etable oil

1/2 each of a red, yel­low, and orange bell pep­per (or 1 1/2 of just one color–three is prettier!)

8 oz. cri­m­ini mush­rooms, sliced or quar­tered (quar­tered will hold up bet­ter if you like large, notice­able chunks of mushrooms)

1/2 tea­spoon dried thyme

1/4 tea­spoon rosemary

2 tea­spoons chopped garlic

1 pound orzo

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

salt to taste

pep­per to taste

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley

juice from 1/2 a medium lemon

3/4 cup freshly shaved parme­san cheese

Cook your chicken. I like to bake it in the oven with a tiny bit of salt & pep­per at about 375 degrees for about 15 min­utes, depend­ing on the thick­ness of your chicken. I then let it cool and pull it apart and set it aside.

Cook the orzo in salted, boil­ing water accord­ing to pack­age direc­tions, minus maybe a minute. You still want the tini­est bit of bite left. You don’t want the orzo becom­ing over­cooked dur­ing the remain­der of the prepa­ra­tion process. When orzo is done, remove a bit of the pasta water to have on hand if the dish needs a lit­tle thin­ning out at the end. Drain the pasta (make sure you use a col­lan­der small enough to trap the orzo, you don’t want to watch the most impor­tant part of your meal going down the drain!) Set orzo aside.

In a large cast iron pot or skil­let, heat the oil. Add the pep­pers and let cook until just start­ing to soften.  Add the mush­rooms and con­tinue to cook until all the veg­eta­bles have started to brown and most of the liq­uid has evap­o­rated. Add the gar­lic and cook another 1–2 min­utes.  Add the thyme and rosemary.

Add the cream cheese in small amounts, stir­ring until the cream cheese melts. Add the cream and chicken broth, stir­ring well to com­bine. Add the orzo and chicken. Sea­son with salt and pep­per. Add lemon juice. Add reserved pasta water, if needed, until desired con­sis­tency.  Add 1/2 cup of freshly shaved parme­san cheese, stir­ring in until melted through.

Serve, gar­nish­ing with remain­ing 1/4 cup parme­san cheese.

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