Oregano chicken with orzo and a quick tapenade
The tapenade takes two minutes and does the work of a much longer sauce.
At a Glance
Story
Crème fraîche stirred into hot pasta will not split the way cream does. It is soured, so its proteins have already been through the acid that would otherwise curdle them in the pot, and it carries more fat besides. That is why a spoonful off the heat gives you a sauce and a splash of double cream in the same place gives you a pot of grainy white flecks.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 oz orzo
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4 oz sugar snap peasstrings pulled and halved crosswise
- 1 oz Niçoise olivespitted and finely chopped
- 1 clove garlicgrated to a paste
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- 1 ½ oz fetacrumbled
- olive oilsalt, pepper
Method
The olives, vinegar and garlic take two minutes and are the whole seasoning of the dish. Make them first and let them sit.
- Salted water on to boil. Chop the olives finely and stir them with the garlic paste, half the vinegar and a teaspoon of olive oil. Taste and season. That is the tapenade. Leave it.
- Pat the chicken dry and season both sides with salt, pepper and the oregano. Medium pan, a teaspoon of oil, medium-high. 6 to 7 minutes a side, until browned and 165°F. Onto a board, foil over it and leave the browned bits in the pan.
- Orzo into the water, 7 to 9 minutes, until tender. Drain and return to the pot.
- Straight into the chicken pan, a little oil, the snap peas, seasoned. 2 to 3 minutes, until browned at the edges and still squeaky.
- Peas, crème fraîche, feta and the remaining vinegar into the orzo. Stir, taste, season.
- Slice the chicken across, sit it on the orzo, and spoon the tapenade over the top.
Snap peas want to stay crunchy. The moment they go limp and army-green you have lost the only textural contrast in the bowl.
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