The flavor of the chicken is most certainly the reason to eat this dish. The reason to cook it is its “toss it in the oven and wash all your dishes before its time to eat” convenience.

But, I liked it because I also got to use some of my fresh rosemary from my mini-garden and I just love to cut off bits of herbs like a real adult.  I ate this dish several times before it was gone as it made about 3 servings. Loves it!

Ingredient List:

• 1/2 whole organic chicken, cut up in pieces
• 1 cup of whole wheat orzo
• 2-3 large asparagus, cut up
• 1 cup of veggie stock
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• olive oil to fry chicken
• salt + pepper to taste
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary leaves, chopped

Directions:

1. Heat a large pan to a high heat, add olive oil. Add  your diced onions and cook until translucent. Take out and set to the side.
2. Season your chicken with salt + pepper. In batches, fry each side of your chicken to make a crispy crust in the same hot pan with olive oil. Don’t crowd your pan or you won’t get a crispy crust…the saddest thing ever. Don’t cook the chicken all the way through, just enough for crispy skin.
3. In your pan, add your asparagus, orzo and onions. Cook until the orzo is browned and smelling wonderful.  This doesn’t take long, a couple minutes. You need to keep stirring to prevent burnage.
4. In a lined baking pan, add your orzo, asparagus, onions, rosemary, chicken and stock. Make sure your orzo will be cooked in the stock. Depending on the size of your baking dish you may need a bit more.
5. In a 375 degree preheated oven, bake your chicken for about 30 minutes. Check and make sure chicken is cooked through before turning off the oven.