Chicken with Puttanesca Orzo
Putta whatta?! Yeah. Her thoughts exactly when he said he was going to make a Puttanesca sauce to put over orzo. & orzo is apparently a pasta… but if you’re talking to her, she’s going to call it rice… & he will correct it. every. time.
Anyway… back to this putta… it’s basically a chunky, hearty red sauce involving olives, vegetables, & anchovies. But we aren’t fans of those anchovie things so we broke the rules. & by we, we mean he. He broke the rules.
Chunky, Hearty Red Sauce
The puttanesca sauce is the winning part of this dish. So here we go…
1 zucchini, diced
1 squash, diced
1 white onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
Handful of kalamata olives, diced
1 cup roasted red peppers, diced
1 jar of marinara sauce
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp olive oil
Putta Process
1. Over medium heat (for about three minutes), pour in olive oil & diced onion in medium sauce pan.
2. Add olives, roasted red pepper, & garlic. Cook for a couple minutes to “release” the olive flavor. His words. Not hers. (We should honestly start a youtube channel so you can see her face when he says these things…).
3. Add zucchini, squash, & wine. Let the wine cook down for about three minutes.
4. Add marinara. Let simmer for fifteen minutes in order to “thickinize” or “chunkify.” Okay. Those are her words. Not his. For sure.
Orzo, Yo.
This PASTA is actually one of our favorites. & honestly, you just need to follow the directions on the back of the box. We did sub in Chicken Stock instead of water for a little extra flava flav. But you do you.
Oh, & you could honestly use any type of noodle you want. Not a fan of Orzo? Totally fine. She’s not a fan of it being pasta & not rice. So no judgement here.
Chicks
Make your chicken however you like best. We ended up frying ours. We made a “dredge” (again, wish you could see her face right now), which was basically a seasoned flour mixture & whisked eggs in separate containers.
We simply dipped chicken tenderloins in the seasoned flour mixture, then into the eggs, then back to the seasoned flour mixture. Next, we placed the chicken in a large skillet with hot vegetable oil (350 degrees). We cooked the chicken for about three minutes on both sides.
