Marry Me Chicken Risoni
Dinner | Italian
Marry me chicken is a creamy sun-dried tomato and parmesan chicken dish, and this version turns it into a full meal by cooking risoni straight in the sauce (which saves you on dishes!). It's a pretty easy recipe to make and it's all done in one pan in about 30 minutes. I sear diced chicken thigh first to build a layer of fond on the base of the pan, then sweat the onion, garlic and thyme in the same pan before adding the stock. Scraping up that fond is where a lot of the savoury depth comes from.
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs, bone out, skin off
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 red onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 280g jar of sliced sun dried tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- small bunch of fresh thyme
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 900ml chicken stock
- 300g risoni
- 200ml cream
- 60g grated parmesan
- 60g (1 small bag) baby spinach
- salt and pepper
Directions
- Dice the chicken thighs into 6 pieces each. Roughly dice the red onion and mince the garlic. Finely slice the thyme and set aside.
- Add the oil to a cast iron or heavy based pan and place over a high heat. While the pan comes to temperature, season the diced chicken with salt on all sides. Place the diced chicken into the pan in an even layer and season one side with crushed black pepper. Sear for 3-4 minutes.
- Once the chicken is golden brown on one side, remove it from the pan. Don’t worry if the chicken isn’t cooked through at this stage.
- Reduce the heat to medium, then add the onion, garlic and thyme, sweating them down for 1-2 minutes until the onions have softened. Add the sun dried tomatoes, oregano, smoked paprika and stock to the pan and stir through to combine.
- Once the stock begins to simmer, add the risoni and cook for 7-8 minutes. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the risoni is al dente.
- Add the seared chicken, cream and finely grated parmesan to the pan and stir through on low heat. Add the spinach to the top of the pan and allow it to wilt for a further 2 minutes without stirring.
- To finish, stir the spinach through, check seasoning and adjust to your taste. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe notes
Risoni
Risoni is a small, rice-shaped pasta that behaves like a cross between pasta and rice. Because it cooks directly in the stock rather than in a pot of boiling water, all of its starch stays in the pan and thickens the sauce. It does like to settle and stick to the bottom, so give it a stir every minute or two while it simmers. Take it off the heat when it’s al dente, as it keeps softening in the cream.
Sun-dried tomatoes
These bring a concentrated, sweet and tangy tomato flavour that cuts through the richness of the cream. I use a jar of sliced sun-dried tomatoes in oil. Drain them before they go in. You can use a spoonful of the oil from the jar to sear the chicken for extra flavour.
Parmesan
Grate it finely so it melts smoothly into the sauce instead of clumping. Grating it fresh from a block gives a better result than pre-grated parmesan, which often has added anti-caking agents. Add it with the cream over low heat, and taste before seasoning, as parmesan is already salty.