Im going to Greece! So I made an obligatory one pot Creamy Lemon Chicken Orzo with tons of fresh summer herbs to celebrate

Did I mention this was all made in ONE pot?!

I made myself a sort of ‘celebratory breakfast’ this morning. Within the first 30 seconds of opening my eyes I was on Airbnb looking at the dreamiest homes Greece. TBH the last thing I should be doing is scrolling on my phone right when I wake up, but this was totally necessary. I decided it was time to finally make it official and book something for myself. One of my oldest childhood friends is getting married in Greece this summer so you can imagine how excited I am. Not to mention this will be my first time going to a wedding! As the excitement settled down, I let my imagination wander as I rummaged through my pantry deciding what to make for breakfast.

Breakfast has such a stigma here in the states, pastries, pancakes, eggs and bacon. Well to me breakfast simply means breaking my nightly fast, there are no strict rules around what that meal has to look like for me. In this house sometimes it’s chicken, sometimes eggs, sometimes a smoothie, the only rule I try to abide by is that it be high in protein - everything else is free game. 

Today I made this one pot chicken lemon orzo with tons of fresh spring herbs. And it was so easy I can literally write the recipe straight from memory!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup orzo

• 1 large juicy skinless chicken breast cut into medium size chunks (marinated and brined if possible though not totally necessary)

• 2 cup broth (I used homemade chicken broth)

• 1 diced onion (large shallot or any color onion)

• 3-4 cloves of minced garlic depending on whether or not you have to kiss anyone soon

• 1 zucchini (shredded)

• 1 lemon

• 1 tbsp dijon mustard (tbh I just squirted a big dollop right on top)

• 1 block of parmesan for shredded topping

• olive oil and/or butter

• salt and pepper to taste

• fresh herbs (I used chives, thyme, basil and fennel fronds – but you could easily use oregano, dill, marjoram, parsley the opportunities are endless!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

2. Then warm up a cast iron (or any oven safe pan) and drizzle with olive oil, add your diced up onion and sauté until slightly golden.

3. Add your sliced chicken to the pan, cook for a few minutes until slightly golden on each side. (Do not fully cook it we are just trying to give the chicken some color) Remove chicken from pan and set aside on cutting board. Turn the heat on low - allowing the onions to softly cook in the chicken juices.

4. In a separate low/wide pan add a big dollop of butter to a medium hot skillet. Add your orzo and roast until slightly and I mean SLIGHTLY toasted. The idea here is to bring out the nutty flavor in the orzo, it makes a huge difference in flavor I promise. You should only be toasting for about a minute, maybe two. Remove from heat and add to original pan with onion mixture.

5. Now we add the toasted orzo, minced garlic, shredded zucchini, dijon mustard, salt, chopped fresh herbs (save a tiny bit for garnishing) to the onion mixture. Give everything a nice stir, then add your broth.

6. Nestle the chicken pieces back into the pot, they should be settled in resting atop the brothy orzo mixture. Grate some parmesan cheese on top of everything (go crazy - the sky’s the limit)

7. Roast everything in the oven for 15 minutes. When done, remove from heat and allow to cool before serving. Add a big squeeze of lemon and the remaining chopped fresh herbs and dive the F in!!!!

I hope you love this as much as I did, send me pics of your plate, tag me, FaceTime me while you’re cooking, whatever! Love you so much thanks for subscribing!