I added the little tomatoes to this dish for added flavour. You don’t need them but I had lots of them and dry roasted some on a low temperature (1000C) over sea salt for 3 hours and then keep them in a jar with extra virgin olive oil, a stick of thyme, rosemary and some garlic cloves). When the tomatoes have been finished, I use the oil in dressings or use it again for the same purpose).
Instead of tomatoes, you can just cut and add ten minutes before the end some Odysea Ltd flame roasted peppers or some chopped Kalamata olives.
You can also poach and then smoke your own chicken breast but for ease I always have some smoked pork or chicken (it is called apaki in Greek) from Agora Delicacies in Glasgow. Of course you can replace this with any cooked meat and even meatballs.
Ingredients (serves 3)
- 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal in 0.5cm pieces
- 150g kritharaki pasta (like orzo)
- A handful of roasted baby tomatoes, if using
- 500ml chicken stock
- 1 smoked chicken breast (apaki), cut in large bite size pieces
- 100g Graviera cheese, roughly grated (can be substituted with parmesan or pecorino)
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
Method
Preheat the oven to 1800C.
Bring a sautee pan with a lid or any medium size pan suitable for the oven to a medium heat and add the olive oil. Sweat the onions for 3-4 minutes till translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Add the carrot and cook for a couple more minutes. Add the kritharaki and mix everything for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the roast baby tomatoes if using, give everything a stir, cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven, add the smoken chicken pieces, give everything a good stir and put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the lid, sprinkle the grated cheese over the yiouvetsi and just put it in the oven for a few more minutes without the cover so that the cheese melts.
Sprinkle with some fresh thyme leaves at the point of serving and grate some more cheese if desired.