Crunchy Parmesan Chicken with Spinach Orzo

Classic Structure, Wendy Pflaum, guest writes this week’s PixieTips. A  week’s worth of ideas for home cooked meals, perfect for Classics,  Smart Structures and Organic Structures.

Once your kitchen is stocked and your recipes are selected, it’s time for a routine shopping trip. Review your recipes and make a list of all the items you need. Try to plan your meals so you use the most perishable ingredients early. You should be able to purchase two weeks of food at a time.

Meat can be bought even further ahead and kept frozen until day of use. Your local butcher is a good place to start. To save time, place an order with you butcher a day or two in advance so you can pick it up at a convenient time. This also assures you get the freshest of exactly what you want. If you don’t have a local butcher, your grocery store will be fine for your meat but sometime your selections may be limited.

Fish is more difficult to freeze, so you should save fish meals for days when you know you have time to pick it up fresh. The reality of anyone cooking 14 straight days is low, so 14 meals will probably last closer to three weeks. One large grocery trip every two weeks should cover most of it, but you will probably need a small fill in trip along the way.

This recipe uses pre-packaged chicken portions, and is a really simple easy meal. It can be cut in half or doubled easily for less or more people.

Crunchy Parmesan Chicken with Spinach Orzo

  • 1 cup of Cornflake crumbs
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 large eggs
  • 4, 4-6-ounce chicken breasts, pounded thin
  • 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup of dry orzo pasta
  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 1 package of fresh spinach, chopped
  • Lemon wedges

 

  1. 1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. 2. Use a medium saucepan to boil water and cook orzo per package directions.
  3. 3.  In a shallow dish, combine cornflake crumbs and ¾ cup of the parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. In another shallow dish, whisk the eggs.  Coat each chicken breast with the crumb mixture than the egg mixture and then again with the crumb mixture. Transfer to the side on wax paper.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat cook on each side about 2 minutes until golden.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake about 10 minutes.

  1. Meanwhile, drain the pasta and in the same pot, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the garlic and chopped spinach, and cook until wilted.  Stir in the drained orzo and ¼ cup of parmesan, salt and pepper, and cook until heated through.
  2. Remove chicken from oven and serve on plate alongside the orzo mixture.