I saw the recipe that inspired this whilst I was doing my daily trawl of Pinterest! I could literally spend hours looking through recipes and have amassed somewhat of a collection- so much so that it’s become something of a recipe book for me!!

The original recipe caught my eye because it combines chicken, lemons and orzo –  something I’ve always wanted to try- and whilst the original recipe called for oregano as its main herb I’ve replaced this with tarragon and swapped out thyme and rosemary for oregano and parsley. Everything else is pretty much the same as original recipe although I’ve not added parmesan rind and upped the stock a little.

The result is really easy to make, tastes divine and will now be a lunchtime staple for me!!

Ingredients

• 2  boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• a glug of olive oil
• 3 medium carrots – diced
• 3 stalks celery roughly chopped
• 1 diced onion
• a large squirt of garlic paste
• 2 pints chicken stock
• 1tsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp each dried basil, dried parsley, and dried oregano
• 200g dried orzo pasta
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• Couple of handfuls of fresh spinach
• parmesan for serving
• Salt & black pepper to season

Method

• Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil a large enameled cast iron pot over medium-high heat. then add carrots, celery and onion and saute 3 minutes.
• Move veggies to the side, add garlic and saute 1 minute.
• Pour in chicken stock, tarragon, basil, parsley and oregano and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add chicken and orzo to pot then cover and simmer stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes until until chicken is poached.
• Remove chicken and shred whilst everything else is cooking
• Return shredded chicken to pot then continue cooking
• add  lemon juice and zest plus the spinach and heat through.
• Serve warm with a shaving of parmesan cheese and crusty buttered bread

To make things even more ‘Brighton Hipster’ I bought it to work in a Kilner Jar!!