One Pot Chicken Risoni with Crispy Salami

This is a cosy chicken risoni (orzo) that's a complete one pot meal: Creamy tomato parmesan sauce with swirls of spinach and pops of nutty chickpeas with juicy pan seared chicken breast, topped liberally with crispy salami bits. It's lengthy to describe the dish. The making part is not!

This: One pan creamy tomato chicken risoni with crispy salami

There was a stick of salami left in the refrigerator and I was looking at it and I was like, Alright, I'll just make something with this. Yes, I ended up going to the grocery store for the chicken and baby spinach and risoni, but that's not the point! She declares insistently 😂

It's that I always feel like salami is an undersung cooking ingredient and I wanted to incorporate it into a dinner. If you take the time to think about it (and these are the sort of things I fall asleep dreaming about), it's got the same characteristics as bacon and chorizo: Fries up crispy and salty, and makes everything better. Bonus: Never letting you cook it for too long so it keeps on grilling and grilling and grilling until it doesn't spit fiery little bits of fat on your arms, I'm glaring at YOU, bacon!

You might say that today's recipe began with salami. They ended with a risoni in a creamy tomato and parmesan sauce with some spinach and nutty pops of chickpeas then stirred through and finished with some juicy seasoned chicken slices.

Its very cosy, very easy, very delicious and very much a crowd pleaser, everyone will love.

One Pan Chicken Risoni, What you need

All you need to make today's chicken risoni is…

SEASONED CHICKEN

The warm red tinge also from this combination of spices but it really adds a nice savoury flavour to the chicken too. If you don't happen to have sage, just leave it out. I know it's not a pantry staple for most people either, but if you have made my homemade pork sausage patties you'd find it hidden in the dark spaces of your pantry (or homemade Sausage and Egg McMuffins, the pork seasoning mix, chicken burger, etc.)

THE CREAMY TOMATO RISONI

• The star of the show is the salami we fry golden and crispy and use the fat that renders out to cook the chicken and the risoni sauce. Win, win, win!
• Orzo, aka Risoni – Small rice shaped pasta. Find it in the pasta aisle. What I like about it is that it's small, meaning it cooks quickly, and I don't have to rest it after cooking like rice and it's easier to use in one pot dishes than larger pastas. For this, you'll need 250g (8oz — half of a normal 500g (1lb) packet). Now use the other half for any of our risoni/orzo recipes!
• I added chickpeas on a whim to add some textural interest and some lovely nutty flavour. And it's got more nutritional value in it – more fibre, more protein (depending on the type of bean) and it's low GI anyway – no effort to open a can, so why not? 😉You can also sub with other beans or just not use any at all.
• The risoni cooking liquid – else the sauce and risoni is bland. There's also vegetable stock that works well. I use store bought, but as long as you've got that homemade chicken or vegetable stock I will beam with pride.
• Just 1 ½ cups of flour and we stir in 3/4 of a cup of cream at the end to give it a creamy taste. We're not relying on the cream to thicken the sauce (the starch in the risoni does this for us), so use low fat cream or evaporated milk if you like.
• This adds a hit of savourey flavour into the sauce. It doesn't make it cheesy.
• Baby spinach or kale – Good for stirring into the end. Our veg quota!
• Aromatic flavour base: garlic and onion.

OPTIONAL EXTRAS

If you have these, they are some optional extras to include to the recipe: You don't have to make a special trip to the store. Explanation below!

I added these in the first time I made this risoni because I had them and they needed using up: A few limp stems of basil, an aging jar of sun dried tomatoes and wine (well this was always going to be used up – in cooking or otherwise). Deglazing the pan with wine, sun dried tomatoes in risoni, a dash of basil to sprinkle.

The second time, I didn't have them and the dish was still super, super delicious.

Don't get me wrong, none of them add any more to the dish than they already do, but they are optional extras. It's not as if you have to go out very specially to buy them. If you've got them, just use them!

How to make one pan chicken risoni

Heads up: Fried up salami in a recipe isn't anything new...or anything new, really! I'm going to guarantee you try it once and will be hooked too.

1. Split each chicken breast in half horizontally, so there's 4 thin steaks altogether. Cooks throught more evenly (no dry outer band); thinner Sprinkle the spice mix and mix it together and then sprinkle the spice mix on each side of the chicken.
2. Salami: crispy – First cook the salami until the crispy and golden. It takes about 2 – 3 minutes over medium high heat. Pour it into a paper towel lined bowl, separating the fat with a slotted spoon left in the pan. This we're going to use to cook the chicken – free flavour!
3. Because you need to be able to submerge the risoni in the liquid to be cooked, the pan should be at least 26cm/10.5″ wide. I bake it in a 30cm/12″ non stick pan that is 7cm / 2.8″ deep. This is my Pyrolux one (Australian store, nor am I an affiliate link). I really like it because it has a lid too.
4. In the same pan, cook the chicken for 3 minutes on each side until deep golden and cooked through; then sear chicken. It should read it's 67°C/153°F inside. Once it rests, it will rise to 71°C/160°F . Pluck the chicken to a plate and loosely throw foil over the top to remain warm.
5. Still in the same pan (one pot cooking memory) sauté onion and garlic. Deglaze* the pan with the white wine (if using, it's optional) and simmer rapidly until almost evaporated.
6. *So it's all about dissolving the tasty gold bits left on the base of 'pan' due to searing the chicken and salami into the wine. That's free flavour and will make our sauce taste better!
7. Next, add everything else – Cook off the tomato paste for 1 minute to reduce some of the raw sour edge of it. Stir again to coat the risoni in the tomato paste, then toss with the stock, chickpeas, salt and pepper.
8. Pull 1 hour ahead – Pull an hour ahead, then cook the risoni for 1 hour, covered, stirring well every 10 minutes. The first thing you do with the stove is put it on medium high and let the liquid simmer. As the stock is absorbed and the base thickens down, turn the heat to medium low so the bottom does not burn. Don't worry if yours is a little thick, it will loosen it up once the cream is added.
9. Wilt spinach + cream + Parm cheese (if using sun dried tomatoes) + cream. Mix well until the spinach wilts. Ours should be beautifully oozy still.
10. Cut – Chicken into thick slices and serve. Serve spooned into bowls, topped with chicken, crispy salami, a sprinkle of extra parmesan and basil (if you're using). Then dig in!

(The alternative option is to serve it help-yourself style on a big platter: Blend chicken, risoni, parmesan and basil), add some salami thrown in; put over a bed of risoni.

Yum. I love recipes like this. It might just have been something funny I made up one day, an unlikely combination of things (say, salami and risoni and chickpeas??).

Yum. I love recipes like this. Something I just made up on the fly one day, perhaps some unusual (salami + risoni+ chickpeas??) combination of things.