chicken florentine with brie and herbed orzo

we really, really like chicken, especially leftovers, so when i make cutlets of any type i use about 4 pounds.

4lbs chicken cutlets

DREDGE (mix in wide shallow bowl)
1 cup flour
1T finely chopped lemon rind
3 T dried tarragon
salt and pepper

EGGWASH (whisk in wide shallow bowl)
4 eggs
3T water

1 large container of fresh baby spinach
1 large wheel of brie cheese (or any soft cheese you like)
1/4 C light cream
1/4 C white wine
1 clove chopped garlic

1/2 box orzo pasta
2 cups vegetable stock
1 T butter
chopped fresh parsley, dried tarragon to taste
freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 T capers

olive oil for sauteeing



clean, slice and pound cutlets
dredge each cutlet in flour mixture
dip in eggwash

in a large saute pan heat 3T olive oil on medium high heat, add prepared cutlets to pan (as many as you can fit without crowding)and brown quickly on each side, remove to plate as you go..you may need to add extra oil, if you do allow oil to come back to temperature then brown remaining cutlets.

in a large saucepan bring the can of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water to boil, add the orzo and cook until almost all liquid is absorbed. remove from heat and cover.

once all cutlets are browned, add the white wine to the pan to deglaze, being sure to stir up any bits of chicken off the pan (this gives great flavor!) add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan, and the entire package of baby spinach, along with the chopped garlic a and the juice of half a lemon and cook til just wilted.  add the cooked chicken back into pan atop the spinach, and put a slice of brie atop each cutlet. add 1/4 light cream to the pan, cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked (4-6 minutes depending on how thick you sliced the cutlets).

right before the chicken is done, add the butter, herbs. lemon juice and capers to the orzo.  if your orzo still has a lot of liquid you can drain in a strainer before adding the other ingredients.

plate and enjoy! linked up to