Finally I have a day off!  It’s been about 2 1/2 weeks straight out with the first peak of tax season so I’m in my comfy clothes relaxing and recharging my batteries.  And doing a long overdue blog post!

I was hoping to do one a few days ago but our silly dog had to be taken to the vet due to an ear infection.  The poor thing was shaking his head so much I thought he’d run out of brain cells and he doesn’t have a surplus!  He’d look at us with one ear up and one ear deflated.  Cute looking but definitely needed to get seen to.  I just wish they understood we are trying to help them.  He did not like his ear being examined and kept backing away.  I felt so bad but the meds are working and the ear is starting to be less deflated.

One of my food memories is eating orzo with chicken and green olives.  I loved that dish.  But I don’t have that recipe and since my family aren’t huge fans of olives I needed to find something different.  In my “The Foods of the Greek Islands” cookery book by Aglaia Kremezi there is a recipe for Baked Chicken with Orzo.  I changed it up a bit and did it on the stove top instead of the oven.

This dish has a lot of strong flavours in this dish with the sundried tomatoes and garlic.  In a large skillet heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Cube up about 3/4-1 pound of chicken and add to the skillet to start browning the chicken.  Season with sea salt and pepper.  Finely chop 3-5 cloves of garlic and half a red onion and add it to the skillet.

Once the onion softens add a cup of sliced sundried tomatoes and saute for a few minutes.  Then add a 14oz can of diced tomatoes with the juice and 2 cups of chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Toss in a small handful of fresh oregano.

Add a cup of orzo.  All I could find was a wheat orzo and that worked well.

Stir well and simmer covered.  Keep an eye on this as this can stick to the bottom of skillet.  Add more chicken stock as needed until the orzo is tender and cooked.  It takes about a 1/2 hour or so.

Serve with parsley and shredded cheese.  I had a mixture of Italian cheeses on hand.  Of course there are good Greek cheeses to choose from.

This is definitely stick to your ribs dish, perfect for chilly winter nights.  This made a lot of food so we have leftovers to use throughout the week.