Roast chicken and bread salad
Apparently there is a place in San Francisco that serves a chicken and bread salad and is famous for it. I dunno, I’ve never been to America but that’s what I found when I googled the recipe to see if anyone else had got there first.
Original or not, it’s definitely one of the most delicious salads I’ve ever made. I love how it’s not really in any way healthy. There are two important things to remember when making it, and that is to buy good chicken (free-range, doesn’t have to be organic) and really good bread. With a recipe this simple, the ingredients need to shine, cliché or not. Burnished, crackling chicken skin is glazed with lemon and honey and seasoned a little bit too much. Bread from St. John is robust and when torn into pieces, drizzled with the chicken drippings and lightly toasted, turns into chewy half-croutons; crisp in some places, moist with meaty juices in others. Cue that noise that Homer Simpson would make if he were daydreaming about a heap of doughnuts, skewered with fried chicken wings, stacked on a giant table made from icy Duff.
Watercress is just the right leaf for the salad I think, not too bolshy. Curly endive also works. For the dressing, it’s mild mustard, a touch more honey to sweeten and then let yourself go with the lemon. That rush of acidity really makes it work.
There are various bits and pieces you could add I suppose but personally, the furthest I’ll go is a few barely-existent slithers of spring onion. It’s all about the flavour of that bird.
Oh, and there’s a matching wine. Yeah, you heard me. Ben asked me to come up with a dish to match a Raimat Vina 27 Chardonnay. I was worried it wouldn’t have enough acidity to cut the richness of chicken skin but it stepped up well. Apple and citrus were predominant flavours and I’m pleased I didn’t go with the obvious choice of fish. Having to plan a dish before you’ve tasted a wine is a challenge, particularly for a novice like me. It’s all about reigning yourself in I suppose and not over-complicating flavours. Start out modest and work your way up, and then when you get a bit good, you can pare it all back down again because at the end of the day, the simplest pleasures are often the best.
Roast Chicken and Bread Salad
1 x 2kg free range chicken
200g really good, dense bread (I used St. John’s white loaf which has the texture of sourdough but without the sourness)
A couple of handfuls of watercress
1 large lemon and possibly another
1 generous tablespoon honey
A few cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1/2 spring onion, sliced very thinly
For the dressing
Juice of half a large lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 teaspoon mild mustard
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 6
Put your bird in a roasting tin and scatter the garlic cloves around it. Peel the zest from half the lemon then scatter this around the bird too and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Warm the honey gently to make it runny then mix this with the lemon juice and brush the mixture all over the bird. Season it heavily, all over and then roast for 30 minutes. Turn the heat down to 160C/gas 3 and roast for another 20-30 minutes. The bird is cooked when the juices run clear when you insert a skewer sideways into the thickest part of the leg.
Remove the bird from the tray and allow to cool. Remove the majority of the crust from the bread and tear it into bite sized pieces. Put the pieces in a bowl and spoon over about 3 tablespoons of the chicken drippings. use your hands to give it a good mix about then pop them into the oven for a few minutes until lightly toasted, but not too crisp – you still want a good bit of chew.
To make the dressing, mix the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard and honey together and season with salt and pepper. Give it a good whisking to emulsify the mixture.
Arrange the watercress on a plate, then arrange some of the bread pieces and chicken on top. Make sure to get plenty of crisp skin. Scatter over a few spring onion pieces if you fancy then drizzle with the dressing and serve. I’m jealous.
Category: Bread, Main Dishes, Meat, Salads, Starters | Tags: bread salad recipe, chicken and bread salad, chicken salad recipe, honey, mustard, roast chicken recipe, watercress 13 comments »
September 1st, 2010 at 9:59 pm
God that looks so fit. Love salads that apply the healthy implications of that word loosely. The restaurant in question, Zuni Cafe, is run by a chef called Judi Rodgers who is ex-Chez Panisse. Would love to go to both – one day!
September 2nd, 2010 at 6:12 am
Cheers sista. Honestly, I am so thick sometimes about restaurants and chefs. Memory like a sieve when it comes to remembering them.
September 2nd, 2010 at 11:49 am
beautiful combo. Funnily enough I was just daydreaming about making your droolsome roast chook with 40 cloves of garlic recipe…
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Oh, I do love their chicken and bread salad – I like the pinenuts and raisins in the original recipe too!
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I am drooling!
September 2nd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
Thanks Helen, love your blog and my stomach is rumbling reading this post. The bread from St. John’s really made it for me, I think their white sourdough (and regular) is the best in London and always go out of my way to get a loaf. Luca’s on Lordship Lane comes in second and I’ve got a list of others that I will and won’t visit (Gail’s being one of the latter). Any opinions on best bread in our great city?
September 2nd, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Drooling at these pics. I’ve made the Zuni salad a few times and adored it. Feel like I’m kidding myself calling it salad though!
September 3rd, 2010 at 12:03 am
I love that bread & chicken with a little greenery is a salad! At least that’s better than calling it something pretentious like a “deconstructed chicken sandwich”? Looks yum
September 3rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Cor blimey I do love a decent bread salad. Especially as they do tend to go a bit overboard and should in no way end up being able to hide behind the word Salad, masquerading as a healthy angelic little dish. This looks effing marvellous. Not sure about the original recipe with pine nuts and raisins mind – Su-Lin, have you made it?
September 3rd, 2010 at 8:24 pm
I think these things must sometimes be in the air. I roasted a chicken the other day and stuffed it with garlic butter slathered ciabatta. No crispy bits but it made the chook taste great. This looks awesome.
September 7th, 2010 at 12:22 am
Nice. But can’t believe you missed out on the opportunity to make a sandwich!
September 9th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
It’s my turn to cook Sunday lunch this week. I have loaf of sourdough that will need finishing off, lemon is my favourite chicken flavour enhancer and citrus and honey is a marriage made in heaven. Thanks for the inspiration!
September 13th, 2010 at 6:34 am
definitely went to Zuni’s a couple of times, and the salad is gooooood