LAZY GOURMET

So I think I've coined a new term/concept: LAZY GOURMET. Lazy Gourmet means taking shortcuts or buying pre-made items and putting a little spin on them to make it seem as though you did a lot of work. Sounds fun, huh? I thought so, too. Lazy Gourmet was born a few days ago, when after a long day of running around town marketing my catering business/running a million errands/cleaning the house....neither Taylor nor I had any interest in making dinner. Our fridge was looking pretty sad, and we didn't feel like getting gussied up and going out to dinner (and spending a fortune). Hmmm....what to do.....what to do.... so I decided I'd just cruise Fresh Market to pick up a few of their pre-made side dishes and see if inspiration would find me somewhere in the isles of my favorite grocery store. :)

Well, their Lemon-Orzo Pasta salad with Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes is to die for. We've had it plenty of times and we both absolutely love it. So I went there first and ordered a pound of it. Ok, so now we have a side dish but no main....hmmmm....walking....walking.......Aha! Rotisserie Chickens. Give me one of the Lemon Pepper Flavored ones. I guess we could just eat a chicken breast with the Pasta Salad....that's kindof boring.....hmmmmm......walking.......The pre-made Caesar salads are HUUUGE! Think I'll grab one of those. Ok, now we have a salad, some chicken, and Orzo. Eh, I guess that'll do. Back to the house.

Upon returning to the house, feeling pretty uninspired and unenthusiastic, I discover that I have a can of pizza dough in the fridge. I remember back to a trick I learned from a coworker at the Hospital. Pizza pinwheels! But, I don't have the right ingredients, so I'm going to have to improvise. Finally, I have a lightbulb moment- and a meal is born. A very lazy but gourmet meal. LAZY GOURMET! And here it is.


Lemon-Orzo Chicken Salad with Pesto Pinwheels and Orange Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

1 pound of Fresh Market's Lemon-Orzo Pasta Salad
1 Rotisserie Chicken- Lemon Pepper Flavor
Sprig of Basil (from your garden!!) and 1 Cherry Tomato (stolen from the Pasta Salad) for garnish





1 storebought Caesar Salad
1/4 cup of Orange Juice





1 canned pizza dough
Container of Pesto
Generous sprinkle of shredded Parmesan Cheese
Generous sprinkle of Garlic Salt


Directions:

1. First, make the Pesto Pinwheels. Roll out the pizza dough onto a flat surface, spread it generously with the pesto, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.
2. Roll the dough up, jelly-roll style, nice and tight. Cut it in 1" slices. Lay the slices on a Silpat-lined baking sheet and mash them down a little bit so they spread out and you can see the pretty green spiral effect.
3. Bake the pinwheels at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.







4. While the pinwheels are baking, pick the chicken meat from the bones of the Rotisserie Chicken. BEWARE OF BONES!!
5. Shred/cut the meat into bite-size pieces, and mix the meat into the Lemon-Orzo Pasta salad.
6. Pick out a Cherry Tomato and quarter it for garnish. Find a pretty Basil sprig also for garnish.
7. Mound the Lemon-Orzo Chicken Salad in the center of a plate, garnish with the quartered Tomato and the Sprig of Basil. Tada! So pretty, and tasty.



8. Lastly, stir the orange juice into the Caesar dressing that came with your salad until it becomes more like a vinaigrette than a creamy dressing. Divide the salad between two bowls (or however many you are feeding) and drizzle lightly with the Orange Caesar dressing.

9. Remove the Pesto Pinwheels and serve them alongside the Lemon-Orzo Chicken Salad. Enjoy!!




Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Man on man, it was YUMMY and super, duper, extra super easy. I'm so dumb, I didn't take pictures but it was so pretty and colorful! I set the plates in front of Taylor (who didn't join me in the kitchen) and his face lit up. He said, "Well, look at you!!" thinking I'd been slaving away in the kitchen...for a total of 15 minutes. I replied, "This is a lazy, but gourmet meal at the same time!" LAZY GOURMET was born. It was filling, satisfying, delicious, and cost about $10 total. So skip the freezer isle next time you're feeling sluggish...head over to the Grab 'n Go section and incorporate a little Lazy Gourmet into your own life.


Cheers,

The Chef Next Door


Side Note: None of the photos in this blog are mine- I borrowed them from Yahoo Image search and Fresh Market's website. I just posted them to give you something to look at while reading!