For this week’s learning project. I wanted to venture out and try cooking a meat I have not had experience with before. After searching the web for a bit, I came across a meal of garlic butter chicken orzo. I had taken a look at the ingredients, which called for chicken thighs, and I had most of the ingredients at home already, just needed orzo and thighs. So off to the store I went. I purchased my ingredients needed and went back home to prep.
Once home, I gathered all the ingredients I needed, and reading the instructions, I realized that I had no idea what 32 ounces of liquid is equal to. So, back to the web, I searched and found a conversion chart. It was super easy to use and
helped me know that it is 4 cups of liquid are needed. I began by prepping my chicken. I refuse to eat fat on meat, and I cut the chicken fat off and made sure it was ready to be lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.
Once the chicken was done, I was moving on to prepping it to fry in the skillet. The recipe wanted 3 tbsps. of butter melted and conveniently on the butter it showed the measurements for 1 tbsp. So that was super helpful. I let that melt in the pan, and I pat dried my chicken and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. At this point in the recipe I started to get anxious, as I did not know how to know when the thighs are done. But I powered through my doubts and kept on moving. 
Next I placed the seasoned bird pieces in the skillet and let them cook while I had cleaned up some of the mess, I let them cook roughly 5 minutes of each side. I then had to remove the pieces and moved them onto a plate. The next step called for putting the orzo into the pan with the chicken grease and butter reminisce, until golden brown, and add the garlic in. In this step I definitely measured with my heart at what I thought would be 4 cloves of garlic, and let me tell you it was way too much. It was edible, but the garlic smell lingers off those who eat this dish for a bit. It was a little odd to me that I had to place the pasta in a skillet without liquid at first. But after reading a little more, it is so the orzo can adopt the flavors from the chicken and butter. I had let this cook for a bit and the smell was so yummy, I couldn’t wait to eat it. The aroma of garlic and butter cooking together definitely gets the salvation glands working.
I mixed in the final ingredients, the chicken stock and placed the chicken back in the skillet and turned my heat down. While cooking I had cleaned up and prep for the leftovers I would have, as this recipe made quite a bit. My final result was very delicious, but I have to admit that I did do too much garlic, and it made it hard to go back for seconds. But the parmesan cheese was a delicious touch, and it helped die down some of the garlic.
My Takeaways
Some take aways I have from this experience is;
- Chicken breasts are not the only chicken I can cook
- There is such thing as too much garlic
- Meals even though sound complicated, most times are not
- Cleaning up while cooking, helps not feel so overwhelming and discouraging
Even with the garlic mishap, at least you made a new meal and learned some new things/found new things to get accustomed to!
Your final product still looked delicious (I myself am a bit of a garlic hound, my family will not eat the guacamole I make because I always waaaaay overdo it). As Carys says above, at least you gave it a try and learned along the way!!
I am also notorious for “measuring with my heart” as well haha so I will try to learn from your mistake to never do this with garlic! It still looks like an awesome recipe though!
It’s great to see someone have a positive experience cooking chicken thighs! I feel pretty comfortable cooking chicken breast but I have yet to venture out of that box. I might have to give chicken thighs a try. Thanks for sharing!