Roasted Vegetable & Chicken with Orzo

With my sister in town, we're cooking more in the Johnson house. She's a big vegetable fan and I am too really - so we decided to make some sort of chicken, pasta, vegetable concoction. 

Not really sure where to start - I went to my roster of blog friends and found a great recipe from the Hungry Housewife for Roasted Vegetable & Chicken Pasta.

I really wanted to try the roasting of the vegetables and it was easy as pie - we just chopped away and had a big pan of zucchini, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and green & red pepper. Tossed them in olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper and then popped them in the oven for 30 minutes - stirring every 10 minutes. 

My sister was wanting orzo - so while the vegetables were roasting we sauteed a few chicken breasts and cooked up the pasta. Right as the chicken breasts were finished cooking - we threw in a few handfuls of spinach as well. 

Once the veges were done - we threw it all into a giant bowl and added a package of Chavrie Goat Cheese. That goat cheese is a little softer than the kinds that come in the vacuum-packed plastic but it melted in nicely and provided a little sauce when mixing with the olive oil from the roasted vegetables. 

It made for a HUGE bowl of food and it's so colorful! The leftovers cooked up nicely as well - I added a dab of butter and a little grated parmesan when reheating to sauce it up a bit. 

So while I modified a couple of things - I stuck pretty close to the Hungry Housewife's recipe. It's one of those recipes though that you can change around to suit what you like - but it gives you a great base to start with. 

ROASTED VEGETABLE AND CHICKEN PASTA

Recipe Type: Entree

Author: Leslie Green-The Hungry Housewife

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 8

A delicious roasted vegetable and chicken pasta.

Ingredients

• VEGETABLES
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1/2 purple onion, sliced
• 1/2 bunch asparagus
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 1 small head broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 pint mushrooms, sliced
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dill
• PASTA
• 1 13.25 oz box of pasta, cooked to package directions
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup parmigiano-reggiano cheese, shredded
• Salt and pepper to taste
• CHICKEN
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large handfull spinach
• Shaved parmigiano-reggiano cheese for garnish(optional)

Instructions

VEGETABLES

1. Preheat then oven to 350.
2. On a large baking sheet combine combine the zucchini, squash, onion, asparagus, tomatoes, broccoli, red pepper, mushrooms, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and dill together.
3. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

CHICKEN

1. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.
2. In a large sautee pan, over medium heat, add the extra virgin olive oil.
3. Add the chicken to the pan and season it with salt and pepper.
4. Cook the chicken for about 6 minutes or until it is no longer pink in the middle.
5. Add the spinach to the pan with the chicken and cook for an additional 20 seconds, or until the spinach is wilted.

PASTA

1. While the pasta is still hot toss it with the extra virgin olive oil and parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

ASSEMBLE

1. In a very large serving bowl, toss the roasted vegetables, chicken and pasta together. Make sure to add any juices from the roasted vegetable pan and the chicken pan.
2. Again, salt and pepper to taste
3. Also, feel free to add more olive oil if needed to the finished dish.