Chicken & Pea Risottata

You can make risotto with pasta, orzo they say.

Timings: Prep = 10 min, cooking = 30 min

Ingredients

Two large chicken breasts, diced

600 ml chicken stock

250 g orzo pasta

Half an onion, diced

Knob of butter

Frozen peas/ petit pois

Garlic, oregano, thyme

Parmesan cheese

Dice the chicken breasts, brown off in a frying pan. Put to one side.

Chicken, diced and ready to brown. That's a ceramic knife, we bought a set in France.

In a large saucepan (the whole thing is made in this pan), add the butter and fry the onion over a low heat for 5 minutes until they’re clear. Add garlic (crushed or chopped) and give that 30 seconds frying. Add herbs and stir them in, too.

Orzo pasta. I must have been feeling flush to buy DeCecco brand.

Add the orzo and toast until lightly brown. This is critical to the texture of the finished dish.

Add the chicken pieces and half the stock. Turn up the heat and stir well to avoid anything sticking to the pan.

Once the pasta has absorbed the liquid, add half the remainder. Keep stirring (though Nigella says not to bother. But what does she know?)

Partly cooked, ready to add the chicken and peas.

Add the peas and the rest of the stock. Cook until the pasta has the texture you like; ideally a bit of bite should remain. You can cook until it’s all soft if you prefer.

Ready to dish up.

Stir in the grated parmesan and serve. Garlic bread would be a good addition. Maybe use smaller pieces, or add chorizo to give more variation in the texture.