Make sure to buy a free-range bird here – you’ll be rewarded with better flavour in the meat as well as the pasta, as it absorbs the juices.
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Yields:
6 serving(s)
Prep Time:
30 mins
Cook Time:
1 hr 30 mins
Total Time:
2 hrs
Cal/Serv:
677
Ingredients
2Tbsp.
olive oil
1
medium whole chicken, about 1.7kg
2
carrots, cut into 1.5cm pieces
1
leek, finely sliced
2
celery sticks, sliced
100g
pancetta lardons
1
lemon, cut into 6 wedges
1
tarragon sprig, plus extra leaves, chopped, to garnish
500ml
hot chicken stock
300
orzo pasta
Directions
Step 1Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a casserole dish (that has a lid) that will hold the chicken with some space around it. Untruss the chicken and brown in the casserole, breast down, until breast is golden. Remove chicken to a board.
Step 2Add carrots, leek, celery and pancetta to the dish and cook for 5min, until beginning to brown. Stir in lemon wedges, tarragon sprig and plenty of seasoning. Return chicken to the casserole dish, breast up. Pour in enough stock to come halfway up the sides of the chicken. Bring to the boil.
Step 3Cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 50min. Carefully remove lid, scatter the orzo around the chicken, making sure the orzo is submerged in the stock, re-cover with the lid and return to the oven for 20min. Check the chicken is cooked; a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast should read 72°C or higher.
Step 4Carefully transfer the casserole dish to a board and leave to rest for 10min. Scatter over chopped tarragon and serve.
A crack team of highly skilled food content producers, the GH Kitchen Team are Good Housekeeping’s resident recipe developers and all-round food obsessives. GH Kitchen Director Sarah Akhurstis our resident hosting pro and loves nothing more than putting on a foodie feast for friends. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time. With a wealth of professional kitchen experience between them, they’re dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work every single time.
