Roast Chicken with Orzo

Name: Roast Chicken with Orzo
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: Skinless; Orzo or risoni pasta; Onion; Olive oil; Chicken stock; Lemon juice; Salt; Black pepper; Flat-leaf parsley

Roast Chicken with Orzo, plated as one serving.

658 kcal a serving, against 1093 for the traditional version. That is 435 kcal off, or 40%, with 59g of protein. Serves 4. 1 hour 40 minutes.

What the traditional version is

One whole chicken, skin-on, roasted over a tray of orzo with a splash of white wine, onions and seasoning. The chicken's rendered fat bastes the pasta below, which cooks in the drippings and absorbs all of it, plus any extra stock or water needed to keep things loose. Sometimes the orzo gets scattered with parsley or a few squeezes of lemon. If you're feeling flash, the pasta can go under the grill for a browned crust at the end.

What changed, and what each change costs

Chicken skin-on changed for skinless thighs

Losing the skin ditches a pile of fat, and swapping from a whole bird to just thighs means you get the same cut of meat, but leaner. The protein stays high, the calories drop. Roast the thighs directly over the orzo to keep the juices coming.

What it costs you. What you lose here is the chicken fat. The pasta doesn't soak up the same golden gloss, and the orzo won't have that meaty shimmer. Serve it to someone who grew up with the original and they'll tell you it tastes too clean.

Boosting the amount of chicken stock in place of rendered fat

Nothing magical, but the stock keeps the pasta moist and chicken-ish, even if it never gets that same lip-coating glaze.

What it costs you. The orzo comes out wetter and less full-bodied. You might call it a one-pot pasta bake rather than a roast, if you're honest.

Drop the olive oil to a bare minimum

Since most of the fat in the classic dish comes from the chicken skin, I only use the smallest trickle of oil just to stop sticking. You don't need a puddle.

What it costs you. You lose that swish of richness when you spoon up the orzo. It's leaner, and your lips won't stick together.

Double the parsley and add lemon juice at the end

Without the fat, the dish needs something to wake it up. Loads of parsley and a cheeky squeeze of lemon means it won't taste dull.

What it costs you. It isn't comfort in the usual way, it's just fresher. I don't mind it, but it won't remind you of Bubbe's house.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Skinless
Orzo or risoni pasta
Onion
Olive oil
Chicken stock
Lemon juice
Salt
Black pepper
Flat-leaf parsley

How it starts

Heat the oven to 200C.
Tip the orzo into a deep roasting tin, big enough that the pasta isn't piled more than a couple of centimetres deep.
Drizzle the olive oil over the orzo, then toss everything so it all gets a thin film.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Jewish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	1093	658
Protein	62.7g	59g
Fat	59.7g	14.4g
Saturated fat	15.1g	3.5g
Carbohydrate	67.7g	69.1g
Protein per 100 kcal	5.7g	9g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Jewish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten.

The method is in the book

The classic wins for pure comfort - there's no fighting that. The real thing is a greasy, glorious mess and your mouth feels like it's had a proper meal. Here, you get plenty of chicken, loads of pasta, and enough flavour to keep you reaching for seconds, if not memories. If you want to feel virtuous, this'll do. If it's nostalgia you're after, save up your calories and eat the real one for a holiday.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Jewish, along with 51 more. Buy the paperback