Youvetsi with chicken
Youvetsi with chicken in pure comfort food. Tender chicken and wonderful orzo baked in a rich tomato based sauce.
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs
- 8 chicken drumsticks
- 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- vegetable oil for frying
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) Greek olive oil
- 2 3/4 cups (680 mL) tomato sauce, or tomato juice
- 7 1/2 cups (1,875 mL) boiling water
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 500 grams orzo
- 1/4 cup mizithra cheese (or a combination of parmesan and romano) optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Heat vegetable oil in a deep frying pan so that you can brown the chicken pieces. Oil should be approximately 1/4 inch deep in pan.
- Prior to placing chicken in frying pan, remove any excess fat and overhanging skin. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over all the chicken pieces, on all sides. Sprinkle evenly with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.
- Cook chicken pieces until all sides are nicely browned, approximately 5 – 7 minutes per side (remember, you are not cooking the chicken through, simply frying the skin).
- Once all of the chicken is browned, transfer the pieces to a baking pan. We used a round roasting pan which was approximately 15 inches in diameter.
- To the pan add 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 3/4 cups tomato sauce, and 7 1/2 cups boiling water. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
- Place in bottom rack of oven and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes
- Carefully remove the pan from the oven and add the uncooked orzo. Stir carefully. Return pan to oven.
- After 10 minutes, carefully stir the orzo in the pan as it will have a tendency to stick to the bottom. We found that the easiest way to do this was with a spatula (easy to scrape up the orzo pieces stuck to the bottom of the pan), using an oven mitt, while the pan was still in the oven. Alternatively you can place the pan onto the stove top, mix, and then return to the oven. Repeat this every 5 minutes for the next 15 minutes.
- The total cooking time after adding the orzo should be 25 minutes.
- If at any point after adding the orzo, your meal appears too dry, you can add a bit of boiling water and mix well.
- Remove from oven, let cool slightly and serve.
- We love to sprinkle our serving with mizithra cheese; this is optional, but highly recommended :)
- Enjoy!