Mustard-Herb Crusted Panko Chicken with Basil Parmesan Orzo

I owed my friend a home-cooked meal, so we looked through a couple of recipes and ended up making panko crusted chicken with a side of basil parmesan orzo. I went grocery shopping right before Blizzard Nemo, so supplies were thin and I managed to snag the only pack of chicken breasts left within the entire supermarket. Unfortunately, I was now saddled with $17 worth of chicken. The breasts were huge, so we only used two and cut each in half and it was more than plenty for the two of us. I also greatly underestimated how much orzo one box makes - hint: it's a lot. So even though only the two of us ate it, this will most likely serve four.

I pretty much made the chicken to the letter, only substituting dried herbs, since the supermarket was a mad house and there were no herbs left :( The orzo was a different story. Neither of us had a lot of experience making orzo, so we pretty much messed up the entire recipe. Here's what we did (though I would advise you to never follow it):

Ingredients
1 box orzo
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons dried basil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Cook orzo as directed on the box. Strain, and then add the chicken stock. The orzo will still absorb all the liquid. Add the parmesan, basil, salt and pepper and mix until creamy. Bam.

We were left with slightly awkward tasting orzo with an odd texture. You couldn't really taste the basil, and the orzo was still on the drier side so the cheese made it drier, rather than creamier. It was also pretty bland, adding the chicken stock after cooking the orzo, instead of cooking the orzo in the chicken stock. I will definitely have to make this recipe again and see if I can make a better version. Maybe follow the recipe or something.