Really, Really good chicken and bread salad

I have a cookbook that has a recipe for the famous Zuni Cafe roast chicken, with bread salad. I’ve tried it once or twice, and it’s good…but something seemed a bit off. Well, the other day I was deciding what to make for dinner, and I didn’t know where the cookbook was, so I went looking online. I found a lot of versions, but this one had the most gorgeous pictures ever, and she raved about it so much, that I decided to give it a try. She’s altered the recipe a bit, but only in very slight ways. Mostly just streamlining the recipe a bit. (Comparing her recipe, and some of the others from the Zuni cookbook, I see that there are some big differences in my cookbook version, so I won’t be using it again) I gave it a try, and what do you know, the BEST roast chicken I think I’ve ever made. Really, really good. I may never make any of my other roast chicken recipes again. We ate the whole thing.

The keys are:

1. Season the chicken a day or two before you make the chicken. (I didn’t do this, because I didn’t have time, but I did season it about 5 hours before making. I’ll bet it would be even better if you followed the directions.)
2. Use a small chicken. Nothing over 3 1/2 lbs if you can help it. With a larger chicken, you have trouble getting the inside cooked properly without burning the skin, due to the high heat.
3. Make sure the chicken is completely dry before roasting. You can do this by leaving it uncovered in the fridge for several hours, and if it’s still damp at all, dry with a paper towel.
4. High heat. In my oven, this meant 450 degrees. HOT.

   And, it turns out, the L.A. Times has a turkey version of the recipe, just in time for Thanksgiving.

   Zuni Cafe Roasted Chicken

   One small chicken, 2 3/4 to 3 1/2-pounds
   4 tender sprigs fresh thyme, marjoram, rosemary or sage, about 1/2 inch long
   3/4 teaspoon salt
   3/4 to 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
   A little water

   Season the chicken: [1 to 3 days before serving; give a 3 1/4 to 3 1/2-pound chicken at least 2 days]

   Remove and discard the lump of fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat very dry inside and out. Be thorough — a wet chicken will spend too much time steaming before it begins to turn golden brown.

   Approaching from the edge of the cavity, slide a finger under the skin of each of the breasts, making 2 little pockets. Now use the tip of your finger to gently loosen a pocket of skin on the outside of the thickest section of each thigh. Using your finger, shove an herb sprig into each of the 4 pockets.

   Season the chicken liberally all over with salt and pepper. Season the thick sections a little more heavily than the skinny ankles and wings. Sprinkle a little of the salt just inside the cavity, on the backbone, but don’t otherwise worry about seasoning the inside. Twist and tuck the wing tips behind the shoulders. Cover loosely and refrigerate.

   Prepare your oven and pan: [Day of, total time is 45 minutes to 1 hour]

   Preheat the oven to 475°F. Choose a shallow flameproof roasting pan or dish barely larger than the chicken, or use a 10-inch skillet with an all-metal handle (we used a 12-inch cast iron frying pan for a 3 1/2 pound chicken). Preheat the pan over medium heat. Wipe the chicken dry and set it breast side up in the pan. It should sizzle.

   Roast the chicken: Place the chicken in the pan in the center of the oven and listen and watch for it to start browning within 20 minutes. If it doesn’t, raise the temperature progressively until it does. The skin should blister, but if the chicken begins to char, or the fat is smoking, reduce temperature by 25 degrees. After about 30 minutes, turn the bird over — drying the bird and preheating the pan should keep the skin from sticking. Roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, then flip back over to recrisp the breast skin, another 5 to 10 minutes.

   Rest the chicken: Remove the chicken from the oven and turn off the heat. Lift the chicken from the roasting pan and set on a plate. Carefully pour the clear fat from the roasting pan, leaving the lean drippings behind. Add about a tablespoon of water to the hot pan and swirl it.

   Slash the stretched skin between the thighs and breasts of the chicken, then tilt the bird and plate over the roasting pan to drain the juice into the drippings. You can let it rest while you finish your side dishes (or Bread Salad, below). The meat will become more tender and uniformly succulent as it cools.

   Serve the chicken: Set a platter in the oven to warm for a minute or two.

   Tilt the roasting pan and skim the last of the fat. Place over medium-low heat, add any juice that has collected under the chicken, and bring to a simmer. Stir and scrape to soften any hard golden drippings. Taste — the juices will be extremely flavorful.

   Cut the chicken into pieces, spread on the warm platter (on top of the Bread Salad, if using).

   Zuni Cafe Bread Salad

   Generous 8 ounces slightly stale open-crumbed, chewy, peasant-style bread (not sourdough)
   6 to 8 tablespoons mild-tasting olive oil
   1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
   Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
   1 tablespoon dried currants plumped in 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon warm water for ten minutes or so
   2 tablespoons pine nuts
   2 to 3 garlic cloves, slivered
   1/4 cup slivered scallions (about 4 scallions), including a little of the green part
   2 tablespoons lightly salted chicken stock or lightly salted water
   A few handfuls of arugula, frisée, or red mustard greens, carefully washed and dried

   Preheat the broiler. Carve off all of the bottom and most of the top and side crusts from your bread (you can reserve these to use as croutons for soup or another salad). Tear bread into irregular 2- to 3-inch chunks, wads, bite-sized bits and fat crumbs. You should get about 4 cups.

   Toss them with just a tablespoon or two of olive oil, lightly coating them, and broil them very briefly, just to lightly color the edges. If you’d like to toast the pine nuts (recommended) you can put them on your broiler tray as well, but watch them very carefully — they cook quickly!

   Combine about 1/4 cup of the olive oil with the Champagne or white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Toss about 1/4 cup of this tart vinaigrette with the torn bread in a wide salad bowl; the bread will be unevenly dressed. Taste one of the more saturated pieces. If it is bland, add a little salt and pepper and toss again.

   Heat a spoonful of the olive oil in a small skillet, add the garlic and scallions, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until softened. Don’t let them color. Scrape into the bread and fold to combine. Drain the plumped currants and fold them in, along with the pine nuts, if they were not already mixed with the bread scraps from the broiling step. Dribble the chicken stock or lightly salted water over the salad and fold again.

   Taste a few pieces of bread — a fairly saturated one and a dryish one. If it is bland, add salt, pepper, and/or a few drops of vinegar, then toss well.

   If you’re going to serve the salad under the roast chicken (recipe above), you can pile the bread salad on the serving dish you want to use and tent it with foil. If you want to serve it separately, do the same, but in a 1-quart shallow baking dish. Hang onto the bowl you mixed it in — you’ll use it again.

   Place the salad in the oven after you flip the chicken the final time, for about 5 to 10 minutes.

   Tip the bread salad back into the salad bowl. It will be steamy-hot, a mixture of soft, moist wads, crispy-on-the-outside-but-moist-in-the-middle-wads, and a few downright crispy ones. Drizzle and toss with a spoonful of the pan juices. Add the greens, a drizzle of vinaigrette, and fold well. Taste again.

   My thanks to Deb from The Smitten Kitchen, for her variations, making this recipe easier and more clear than I’ve seen anywhere else.