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Roast Chicken with Bread Salad
© Quentin Bacon

Roast Chicken with Bread Salad

  • ACTIVE: 20 MIN
  • TOTAL TIME: 1 HR plus 24 hr seasoning

This roast chicken, from chef Judy Rodgers at San Francisco’s Zuni Café, is legendary. The reason it’s so good is because she insists on small free-range birds (which tend to be juicier than large, lean roasters), a 24-hour salting period to allow the seasoning to penetrate deeply and a high roasting temperature for a supremely crispy skin. The accompanying bread salad is meant to be a bed on which to serve the roast chicken and sop up its delicious juices.

  1. One 2 3/4-pound free-range chicken
  2. 4 thyme sprigs
  3. 4 small garlic cloves, lightly crushed and peeled
  4. 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  5. Freshly ground pepper
  6. Bread Salad with Currants and Pine Nuts, for serving
  3. Skim the fat from the juices in the skillet. Arrange the Bread Salad with Currants and Pine Nuts on a platter and top with the chicken. Pour the juices over all and serve.

Suggested Pairing

Ripe, rich Sonoma Chardonnay.