Description

This simple lemon orzo chicken dinner is one of Nigella Lawson's favorite meals to cook at home.

Directions

1. Gather the ingredients.
2. Untruss chicken, if it comes trussed, and remove string. If time allows, let it stand out on a board for 40 minutes or so. Heat oven to 350°F.Peel garlic cloves. Peel and cut carrots into three lengths across, and then into sticks.
3. Heat oil in a large heavy Dutch oven with a tightly fitting lid over high heat. Place chicken in hot oil breast side down and sear until skin is richly golden; 3 to 5 minutes. Turn chicken over so breast side is up.
4. Take Dutch oven off heat and, aiming for the space around the chicken, finely grate in zest from lemons. Grate garlic around chicken (obviously some can end up on the chicken itself), add dried tarragon, and give a quick stir in oil as best you can.
5. Scatter vegetables around chicken, followed by salt and red pepper flakes (if using). Squeeze in juice from your zested lemons.
6. Pour in cold water — covering all but the very top of the breast — and put Dutch oven back on high heat to bring to a boil.
7. Once it's bubbling, cover with lid and carefully transfer to oven. Cook chicken for 1 hour and 15 minutes, then check to make sure chicken is all but cooked through and carrots are soft.
8. Remove pot from oven and add orzo all around chicken, pushing it under liquid and stirring as best you can manage in the restricted space. Cover pot with lid and return to oven. Cook until orzo is soft and swollen, about 15 minutes.
9. Remove Dutch oven from oven and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes before serving; orzo will continue to soak up broth as it stands.
10. While orzo finishes, chop parsley. Stir in ¼ cup, then sprinkle over a little more. You could shred the chicken now, but it looks so wonderful in its pot I like to bring it to the table whole.
11. Place a dish by the Dutch oven, then pull chicken gently apart with a couple of forks, removing any bones and skin that come loose. (For me, these bits are a particular treat: I live for the cartilage.) I find it easiest to do this while the chicken's still in the pot but, if you prefer, you can try to remove it to a cutting board; go carefully as it's likely to fall to pieces a bit as you do so.
12. Stir chicken and orzo again and ladle into bowls, sprinkling with parsley as you go. You may also want to offer Parmesan to grate over: I prefer it without, but there is a strong pro-Parmesan contingent in my house.