Just one tablespoon of Irini’s Spice Paste adds lots of warmth and fruitiness to this dish. You can buy the Great Taste Awarded spice paste from Northumbrian Pantry.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, skinned, boned and sliced in 5 strips each
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 red pepper, cored and cut in small dice
- 1 tbsp Irini’s Aromatic Paste
- A small handful of baby plum tomatoes, quartered
- 250g orzo
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 100ml dry white wine
- 750ml chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tsp fresh mint finely chopped
For the cheese topping
- 100g feta cheese, crumbled
- 100g Cretan Graviera or other hard cheese grated
- 250g mozzarella (net weight) chopped
- ½ tsp dried mint
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C fan.
In a bowl, mix all the cheese with the dried mint and oregano. Bring a large sauteing pan to a high heat and add half the olive oil. Brown the chicken thighs all round and remove onto a dish. Keep to the side.
Add the remaining olive oil and the chopped onion and pepper. Sweat for a few minutes and add the aromatic spice paste and chopped tomatoes. Cook for a 3 more minutes stirring continuously. Add the orzo and stir well to coat. Add the wine and let it evaporate and start adding the stock. Use all the stock up by adding more as soon as the previous amount has been absorbed. Add a little hot water if you have run out of stock and the orzo is not fully cooked. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
When the orzo is cooked, remove from the heat and transfer into an oven proof dish.
Top the orzo with the pieces of chicken. Spoon over the cheese mix and bake in the oven for 20 minutes uncovered to finish cooking.
Sprinkle with the shredded mint and serve.