Ingredients

• 4 small chicken breasts
• 50 g flour
• 2 eggsbeaten
• 100 g panko
• 60 g Parmesan plus 40 g for orzo
• 250 g orzostandard dried, which holds its texture better than quick-cook
• 300 g cherry tomatoes
• 1 garlic bulb
• 650 ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp fine salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. 01

   Roast the garlic and tomatoes

   Heat the oven to 200 C / 180 C fan. Trim the top off the garlic bulb, drizzle with a little of the olive oil, wrap loosely in foil and roast with the cherry tomatoes on a tray for 30-35 minutes, until the tomatoes have burst and blackened in places and the garlic cloves are soft enough to squeeze out like paste.

   300 g cherry tomatoes

   Roasted garlic is a different ingredientA whole bulb sounds enormous. Roasting makes it sweet, and it does the work of twice the cheese.

   Crush the tomatoes inLeft whole they sit there. Crushed, they collapse into the sauce and season the pan.

2. 02

   Bread the chicken

   Flatten the chicken breasts to an even 1.5 cm. Coat in the seasoned flour, then the beaten eggs, then the panko mixed with the 60 g Parmesan, pressing firmly so the crust is thick and craggy.

   4 small chicken breasts · 50 g flour · 2 eggs · 100 g panko

3. 03

   Fry until crisp

   Shallow-fry in a 5 mm depth of oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes a side, until deeply golden and cooked to 75 C. Hold it at medium. The Parmesan in the crumb browns faster than plain panko. Rest on a wire rack.

   Medium heat, not highParmesan in the crumb catches faster than panko alone, so the crust darkens before the middle cooks.

4. 04

   Start the orzo

   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat, add the tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes, stirring, until it darkens and smells sweet rather than raw. Add the orzo and stir for a minute to toast.

   1 tbsp olive oil · 1 tbsp tomato puree · 250 g orzo

5. 05

   Cook it like a risotto

   Add the hot stock a ladleful at a time, stirring often, for 10-12 minutes until the orzo is tender with a slight bite and the pan looks creamy.

   650 ml chicken stock

6. 06

   Finish the orzo

   Squeeze in the roasted garlic cloves and mash them through with the roasted tomatoes, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pan so they melt into the sauce. Stir in the 40 g Parmesan and loosen with a splash of stock. It should be glossy and slightly loose, not stodgy.

7. 07

   Serve

   Slice the rested chicken across the grain into thick 2 cm pieces with a sharp serrated knife, using a sawing motion so you cut the crust rather than crushing it. Spoon the orzo into warm shallow bowls, lay the chicken over the top rather than burying it. The coating softens within a minute in contact with the sauce, and finish with black pepper and a little more Parmesan.