RECIPE: Santorini Chicken

When the first major snowstorm hit at the end of December, I was thrilled to be forced to stay indoors. Having an excuse to spend the whole day inside, warming up with a hearty winter meal, was ideal. However, with record snowfall this winter, it is safe to say that cabin fever set in.

Spring is finally upon us and in order to officially put winter behind us, I have put together a recipe that will give a taste of spring.

Santorini Chicken:

8 thin chicken cutlets

1 package frozen leaf spinach, thawed

4 tablespoon of olive oil

1 cup orzo Pasta

5 grape tomatoes

coarse ground pepper and salt

oregano

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of crumbled feta Cheese

Directions:

To begin, heat broiler in stove and set a large pot of salted water to boil.

Place chicken cutlets on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spread one side of each cutlet with olive oil. Layer chicken cutlet with spinach and feta cheese on top of the olive oil. Starting with the skinny pointed end of the chicken, roll the chicken up slowly, making sure that the spinach and cheese is tightly wrapped inside. Place rolled chicken seam side down on the baking sheet.

Season chicken with pepper, salt and oregano. Season heavily with the oregano to bring out more of a Mediterranean flavor.

Place baking sheet with chicken under the broil for 8 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked through.

Next, pour a cup of orzo into the boiling water. For al dente pasta, cook orzo for a shorter amount of time than allowed. For toasted orzo, take a ¼ cup of orzo and place in a sauté pan drizzled in olive oil. Toast orzo over high heat for 5 minutes. Add toasted orzo to the cooked orzo when finished. Pour finished orzo into a serving bowl and combine with butter, grape tomatoes and parmesan cheese.

Pour finished orzo onto a serving dish. Place the chicken on top of the orzo and serve.