Greek Chicken and Orzo Stew

A thousand years ago, when I was single and carefree, I spent an amazing month in Greece.  One of the dishes I discovered on Santorini was this one – and now as a mum it makes a delicious and budget-friendly one pot meal.  It is packed with rich tomato flavour, easy for kids to eat, and goes wonderfully with a glass of cold Retsina (for mum)!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 600 grams of organic chicken thighs (I like skin-on and bone in, but will often do skinless boneless thighs and dice them into bite sized pieces to make it easy for the kids)
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 small onion chopped finely
• 1.5 cups of regular or gluten-free orzo (sometimes known as risoni)
• ½ cup of your favourite dry red wine
• 1 tin of pureed organic tomatoes or passata
• 1.5 cups of chicken bone broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons of organic sugar or 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp of fresh oregano or 1 tsp of dried oregano
• ½ cup of grated Kefalograviera or Parmesan cheese

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 170C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or deep oven proof pot and saute on the stove until the chicken till it is browned.
3. Remove chicken and all but two tablespoons of oil/fat.
4. Add onion and then the garlic, sauteing until the onion is translucent.
5. Deglaze the pan with the wine then return chicken to the pan.
6. Add the pureed tomatoes, bone broth, bay leaves, sugar, cinnamon stick, and oregano and stir.
7. Bring to the boil.
8. Put lid on the dutch oven or pot and place in the oven for 20 minutes if using cubed thigh meat, 35 minutes if you’ve left it on the bone.
9. Remove from the oven and very gently stir in orzo.
10. Return to the oven, lid on for 15 minutes.
11. Gently stir the stew and remove the lid.  If the liquid has reduced too much, add in some boiling water (you can do this at any time of the cooking process if liquid is low).
12. Allow the stew to cook for 10 more minutes then check on the orzo, it should now be cooked (if not, return to oven for a few more minutes).
13. Remove the pot from the oven.  Take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves, and allow the stew rest for 5-10 minutes
14. Serve with grated cheese on top and a Greek salad on the side. Opa!