Pot Roasted Chicken with sun dried tomatoes, cinnamon and oregano

We had this dish for lunch at our friends recently. I really enjoyed it that day, so I decided to give it a try as we had family coming for dinner last night. I wanted to do something all the children would eat and enjoy, this was a good choice. I made the sauce in advance and doubled the recipe to feed 8 of us. I made a huge mess in the kitchen (see photo below), not an inch of work surface to be seen. Things didn't go too smoothly in the kitchen, one of the chickens was slightly underdone when I first took it out of the casserole dish, I returned it to the oven for a little longer than the recipe stated. This was due to the fact that the dish was a bit small for the chicken and it was half covered with sauce. The other one was perfectly cooked. The hassle was probably due to two things, my sous-chef and tidy up person was watching the rugby and not helping at all. Also too much wine was drunk prior to the meal being ready, which affected any chance of a smooth operation in the kitchen. However the flavours were really lovely, the chicken really tender, I would do it again, but I'd try to be a bit more organised next time. This is also from Rick Stein's "Mediterranean Escapes".


Ingredients
Serves 4
1 x 2kg chicken
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
60g sun-dried tomaotes 
400g tin of chopped tomaotes
a cinnamon stick
1 tsp dried oregano
a generaous pinch of crushed dried chillis
150ml of chicken stock
400g orzo pasta
25g butter
50g finely grated parmesan
a small handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper


Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Season the inside of the chicken. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large casserole dish and add the chicken and brown on all sides over a medium heat.
Remove the chicken to a plate and add the remaining oil and the onion to the casserole and cook until soft and lightly browned. Add the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and tin of tomatoes, cinnamon, oregano, dried chilli flakes, chicken stock, 1 teasppon of salt and some black pepper. Bring to a simmer, replace the chicken and cover the casserole with a tight fitting lid. Transfer the casserole to the oven and bake for 1 and half hours until the chicken is tender.
Bring a large pan of salted boiling water to the boil in a large saucepan. When the chicken is cooked, lift it onto a carving board and leave it to rest covered in foil for 10 minutes. Skim the excess fat from the surface of the sauce, place the casserole over a medium heat and simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened.
Cook the orzo for 7 minutes until al dente. Drain and return to the pan with the butter and grated cheese and toss together well.
Remove the cinnamon stick from the sauce, stir in the parsley and season to taste.
Carve the chicken . Spoon the sauce onto warmed plates and place the chicken on top. Spoon the orzo alongside and serve.