Lemon Orzo with Chicken & Artichokes

Ingredients

• 600 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into large chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 800 ml chicken stock
• salt and black pepper
• 1 large onion, diced
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 300 g orzo pasta
• 1 x 400g tin artichoke hearts, drained and halved
• 50 g parmesan, grated
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve

Method

1. Pat the chicken thigh chunks dry and season generously with salt and pepper before they hit the pan — water means steam, and steam means no browning.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wide, lidded pan over a high heat until it shimmers. Brown the chicken in two batches, 4–5 minutes a batch, turning once until deeply bronzed on the outside but not yet cooked through. Don't crowd the pan — all in at once and the chicken steams in its own juices instead of building colour. Lift out and set aside.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pan and cook for about 5 minutes, scraping up the chickeny fond from the base — that's pure flavour dissolving back in — until softened and translucent.
4. Stir in the garlic and lemon zest and cook for 30 seconds, just until fragrant. No longer — burnt garlic turns the whole pan bitter and there's no rescuing it.
5. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble hard for 2 minutes, until the sharp alcohol smell has burned off and the liquid has reduced by half. Add the chicken stock — well-salted, taste it now, it should taste like a good soup — and bring to a rolling boil. This is your only chance to season the orzo from the inside.
6. Stir in the orzo and tuck the chicken back in along with any resting juices. Reduce to a steady simmer and cook uncovered for 12 minutes, stirring frequently so the orzo doesn't catch on the base, until al dente and most of the liquid has been absorbed into a loose, creamy sauce.
7. Fold through the halved artichoke hearts and warm through for 2 minutes. If the orzo looks tight or claggy, loosen with a splash more stock — it should be silky, not stodgy.
8. Pull the pan off the heat. Stir through the lemon juice and parmesan — the acid off the heat keeps it bright rather than dulled by the boil. Taste, season, taste again. Adjust the salt and plenty of black pepper now, not at the table.
9. Spoon into shallow bowls, scatter generously with the chopped parsley and extra parmesan, tuck a lemon wedge in beside each portion, and pass the ciabatta for mopping.