Things I love

Some things I love:

1. Wegman's

2. Goat Cheese

3. Really, there's more to life?? .... ok,

4. Balsamic

These things I love combined to make a great meal the other night. We are trying to work through the random collection of groceries in our pantry and freezer. Despite my protestations that there's never food in the house, there is. A ton of it. Often it just doesn't add up to a meal, but we're getting creative. I had this jar of roasted red pepper bruschetta tucked away in the pantry since (obviously) a previous trip to Wegman's - which was a long time ago. Western One had left chicken out to thaw so I figured it was as good an opportunity as any to use up the jar.

I sauteed some shallots (from the CSA) and garlic then browned up the chicken a bit on the stove top with a generous dose of olive oil. I cooked up the remaining half a bag of orzo I had in the cabinet. We have so many freggin partially consumed packages of pasta, I couldn't take it any more. I pulled the chicken out for a moment, deglazed with some balsamic, poured the orzo (cooked only half way) into the pan, reserving a bit of the pasta water just in case, and put the chicken back in on top. I've never baked orzo like this before, so I wasn't sure how it would work out, but the half cooking plus a little extra oil, balsamic and pasta water worked

perfectly.

Then I topped the chicken with the Wegman's special, threw the cover on and popped it in the over to finish. When it was about done, I added some extra goat cheese and tossed in some chopped up rosemary and black pepper roasted walnuts (made with rosemary from my garden) to give the orzo some texture. All in all, it was a pretty great meal... I used up stuff in my pantry, did not have to go to the store, and the chicken was vegetarian fed, hormone/anti-biotic free and normal sized for not a ridiculous price - not perfect but a step in the right direction (Thanks BJ's).