Chicken, cinnamon and sweet tomato orzo
This wonderfully savoury and gently spiced chicken and orzo dish is bright and served with Greek salad. Classy comfort food.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 tbsp tomato ܰ́
- 5 ripe tomatoes
- 400g/14oz orzo
- 1 litre/1¾ pint hot chicken stock
- 6 chicken thighs, on the boneand skin on
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- 250g/9oz cherry tomatoes on the vine
- 4 sprigs fresh oregano
- 75/2½dz halloumi (or salted anari ricotta cheese)
- sea salt and freshly groundblack pepper
For the salad
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Pour the olive oil into a wide casserole pan and add the chopped onions and garlic. Place on a medium-low heat and fry for 10 minutes, or until starting to soften. Add the cinnamon stick and tomato ܰ́ to the pan and stir for a minute.
Coarsely grate in the large tomatoes, give everything a stir, then stir in the orzo and hot stock.
Toss the chicken thighs with the allspice and a generous pinch of sea salt and freshly groundblack pepper.
Place the chicken on top of the orzo, skin side-up, and dot around the vines of tomatoes and the sprigs of oregano. Drizzle everything with olive oil and place in the oven for around 30 minutes.
When 30 minutes is up, remove the casserole pan from the oven. Carefully pour 150ml/5fl oz of boiling water all around the orzo (avoiding pouring the water on the chicken skin) and return to the oven. Cook for a further 20–25 minutes, or until the chicken skin is crisp and golden-brown, and the meat is tender.
Remove from the oven, leave it to rest for 5 minutes, then grate the cheese over. (You can pop it under the grill if you'd like it a little browned.)
To make the salad, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.
Serve a generous helping of the orzo with a piece of chicken and the salad served alongside.
