Skillet Chicken and Lemon Orzo
Orzo cooked in its own broth with chicken, rosemary, and dried lemon peel. One pan at the truck.
- calories
- 610
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 102
- protein
- 34 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 8 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 33 min
- water
- 800 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Orzo | 1 cup | |
|---|---|---|
| Foil-packet chicken | 3 packets, about 7 oz total | replaces bone-in thighs, which need a fridge and an oven |
| Chicken bouillon | 3 tsp | makes the broth the orzo drinks |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried minced garlic | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried shallot or onion flakes | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried rosemary | 1 tsp | crush it between your fingers going in |
| Dried lemon peel | 2 tsp | |
| Freeze-dried spinach | 1 cup loose | |
| Grated hard parmesan | 1/4 cup | the shelf-stable green-can kind |
| Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes | to taste | |
| Lemon juice | 2 tbsp | from a plastic squeeze bottle |
Method
- Heat the oil in the pan. Add the garlic, shallot, and rosemary and stir for thirty seconds, no longer. Dried alliums scorch fast.
- Add the orzo and stir it in the oil for a minute so the grains coat.
- Pour in 800 ml of water with the bouillon and lemon peel. Bring it to a boil, then hold a low simmer.
- Stir every minute or two. The orzo sticks to the bottom of a hot pan if you walk away. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, until the grains are soft and most of the liquid is gone.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the freeze-dried spinach and the chicken. Cover for two minutes so the spinach rehydrates in the residual steam.
- Add the parmesan, lemon juice, and pepper flakes. Stir and serve.
The original is a cast iron dish: bone-in thighs seared skin down, then finished in an oven with the orzo drinking the pan drippings. Neither the fridge nor the oven travels, so the chicken becomes foil packets and the drippings become bouillon and olive oil. The orzo still cooks in flavored liquid rather than plain water, which is the part that actually matters.
The orzo absorbs almost all of the 800 ml, so there is no draining and no strainer. Dried lemon peel goes in early because it needs heat and time to give anything up. The bottled juice goes in at the end, off the heat, where the brightness survives.
Packing
Orzo, bouillon, garlic, shallot, rosemary, and lemon peel go in one bag as a premix. Spinach rides in its own bag or it turns to dust. Chicken packets and the oil bottle pack separately.
Variations
- Swap the chicken for a can of white beans if you want it meatless.
- A packet of sun-dried tomatoes stirred in at the end adds acid and chew.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/one-pan-chicken-thighs-with-lemon-and-spinach-orzo