I made Ina Garten’s one-pot chicken and orzo recipe and it’s perfect for cold, rainy days at home

I made Ina Garten’s chicken in a pot with orzo and will definitely be making it again this winter. NBC/Contributor/Getty Images and Rachel Askinasi/Insider Ina Garten’s newest cookbook is called “Go-To Dinners. ” She told Vogue that her favorite recipe is for chicken in a pot with orzo.

I made the recipe at home and agree that it’s delicious and perfect for cozy nights in. Ina Garten’s latest cookbook features recipes for dinners that are both satisfying and uncomplicated. Ina Garten has 13 cookbooks.

Vince Talotta/Contributor/Getty Images”Go-To Dinners” is celebrity chef Ina Garten’s 13th cookbook.  According to the Barefoot Contessa website, this book lists some of her stress-free recipes that she knows will turn out perfectly every time. She says on the site that the recipes were all born out of her pandemic approach to cooking, which meant easy, comforting, and delicious.

 She called her recipe for chicken in a pot with orzo her favorite out of the entire book. So I wanted to make it myself to see if it was really that great. I made Garten’s chicken in a pot with orzo.

Rachel Askinasi/Insider”The one thing I’ve made the most is the chicken in a pot with orzo,” she told Vogue when asked if she had a favorite recipe from the book that she thinks is really special. “It all goes into one big pot, then it goes into the oven, and you end up with a fabulous dinner with chicken, vegetables, pasta. It’s so comforting and delicious in the winter, and it just takes care of everybody.

“The recipe calls for 15 ingredients (including salt and pepper). All of my ingredients for Garten’s chicken in a pot with orzo. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderFor the dish, Garten lists good olive oil, a whole 3 1/2 to 4-pound chicken, carrots, celery, leeks, fennel, garlic, saffron threads, fresh thyme, fresh parsley, fresh dill, orzo, kosher salt, and finely ground black pepper.

 Her recipe also calls for “preferably homemade” chicken stock, but I went with the Barefoot Contessa’s steadfast guidance of “store-bought is fine,” and decided against making my own stock this time around.  The first thing I did was prep and measure out my veggies. Chopped carrots, fennel, celery, and leeks.

Rachel Askinasi/InsiderAfter preheating my oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, I scrubbed and diced two cups of carrots and celery each, and I chopped two cups of fennel and two cups of leeks as per the recipe.  Garten said her measurement would require around three leeks, so that’s how many I was prepared to use. But when I got to chopping, I reached two cups with just a single leek.

So this is your reminder to stick to the measurements rather than a number of items, as the size of a veggie will make a huge difference to how many you need.  Then I moved on to the next step, which was searing the chicken. I dried the chicken as much as possible.

Rachel Askinasi/InsiderI followed Garten’s instructions and patted my chicken dry with a paper towel. On an episode of “Today With Hoda & Jenna” in October, Garten said that making sure the chicken is dry will ensure that it sears properly rather than steams.  Then, after heating 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven, I placed my chicken breast-side-down for seven minutes (I had to tack on around three minutes after I saw that it was only slightly browned).

The delicious smells filled my kitchen immediately and I was excited for the meal ahead.  I flipped the bird and got the other side browning for another seven minutes before removing it from the pot (the instructions said four to five minutes, but based on the fact that I needed to add a few minutes to the first side, I just went for seven minutes on the second side). Then I tossed all the chopped veggies into my Dutch oven to cook down.

This step took a long time, so I made myself a grilled cheese. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderAfter removing the chicken, it was time to sauté the vegetables.  I added the celery, carrots, leeks, and fennel at the same time and let those cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Garten says they should be brown by the end, but mine needed an extra 10-ish minutes to get there.  This step (plus the time it took to actually cut the veggies) took way longer than I had anticipated, so I made myself a grilled cheese as a chef’s treat to hold me over. Once they were soft, semi-translucent, and golden in places, I added the chopped garlic clove and cooked the combination for another minute before adding the chicken back into the pot.

 I returned the chicken to the Dutch oven with the chopped vegetables and added the liquids and saffron. The whole dish is made in this one pot. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderWith the veggies acting like a soft pillow for my whole chicken, I added four cups of chicken stock and 1/2 teaspoon of saffron threads.

 This step of the recipe also says to add “enough water to cover the chicken with just an inch of the breastbone exposed. ” I wasn’t sure if it meant one inch with regard to length, height, or something else, so I just covered the chicken almost completely in liquid until only a bit of the breastbone was left uncovered. I added my improvised herb bundle, seasoned with salt and pepper, and brought the mixture up to a boil.

I improvised with my herb bundle and it worked out perfectly. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderGarten says to use kitchen string to bundle the fresh herbs — thyme, parsley, and dill — together, but I didn’t have any of that and I forgot to get it at the store. Whoops.

I tried to look up household alternatives, but something about using minty dental floss or crumpled aluminum foil seemed disastrous to me. So, I grabbed one of the many strands of dill I had on hand and used it to tie the bundle — it worked. (I was pretty proud of myself for that one and I thought Ina would be too.

)I added the bouquet to the pot, dusted it all with 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt, and brought it all up to a boil. Once it came to a boil on the stove, it was time to put my concoction into the oven to finish cooking. The dish cooks both on the stovetop and in the oven.

Rachel Askinasi/InsiderI heard the bubbles start roiling from my seat on the couch and I knew it was finally time to get this thing into the oven.  Unfortunately, I failed to plan properly and had to shift around my oven racks after it was already hot — I would recommend putting your Dutch oven (lid on) into your oven before turning it on so you can measure out how much room you’ll need and which levels the racks should be on.  Once I finally got the pot inside, I closed the door and set my timer for 75 minutes (one hour and 15 minutes).

 Garten recommends you check on the pot a few times to make sure the liquid is simmering, but I couldn’t do that with the way my racks were arranged. I was confident that it was hot enough to be simmering, though. And if it wasn’t, it still came out great.

 I pulled out the pot once my timer went off and added the orzo pasta. The orzo is cooked using residual heat from the oven. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderTaking the pot out of the oven, I easily removed the herb bundle (thanks to my improvised dill tie) as per Garten’s instructions.

 In her recipe, orzo doesn’t need to be boiled or simmered into the broth. Instead, she just pours it in and closes the lid, letting the residual heat cook the two cups of tiny pasta for 20 to 25 minutes.  It was the first time I had cooked orzo this way, and, to my surprise, it worked.

 It was time to serve it up and I was thrilled with how easily the chicken came off the bone. The meat was moist and tender and came away from the bone easily. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderThe professional home cook says to use two forks to pull the breast meat away from the bone.

I did as I was told and the meat came off with little to no effort from me.  I added the chicken to my shallow bowl (that’s what Garten recommends serving in), and then ladled in some broth, veggies, and, of course, orzo.  On Garten’s recommendation, I finished the dish with lots of fresh dill and a generous sprinkling of salt.

This dish was delicious and made a high volume of food, which makes it perfect for meal prepping in colder months. I’ll definitely be making this again this winter. Rachel Askinasi/InsiderI understand why this is Garten’s favorite.

It’s hearty without being overwhelming, delicious without being too complicated, and fairly easy to pull together.  It’s even (mostly) a joy to cook. When I first seared the chicken, I started to smell it right away — that savory scent had me ready to dive into the finished dish.

Even though the raw chicken was unseasoned, the browning gave the skin flavor.  The saffron added a wonderful depth of flavor, making it a little more interesting than my typical chicken soup, and the dill brought a welcome brightness to the dish. The end result was a little salty, so next time I’ll use low-sodium chicken stock and will add less salt to the pot before boiling.

 I thought there were a few pain points, which mainly came when I was dealing with the veggies. Chopping and cleaning them was relatively easy, but it took a long time. And sautéing them took almost twice as long as the recipe suggested.

In my opinion, there needed to be more orzo. There wasn’t enough to thicken the broth as Garten intended, so when I re-heated the pot the next night for dinner I added more of the pasta, which helped a bit. Overall, this recipe took a long time to make, but it was worth it.

I’m just one person, so I froze several portions for a later date and still had enough left to enjoy multiple nights in a row.  I think this is definitely worthy of being called a go-to dinner, especially in the fall and winter when warm deliciousness is what we need to soothe our souls.  Read the original article on Insider.