A filling dish starring golden roast chicken and fried chunks of bread with a subtly mustardy dressing
Diana Henry The Telegraph's award-winning cookery writer
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
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This is very much inspired by the wood-roast chicken and bread salad at Zuni Café in San Francisco. When I first ate there, its then chef the late Judy Rodgers hadn’t yet written a cookbook, so I had to guess how to make it when I got home.
I use Spanish migas – chunky bits of bread that are soaked in milk and then fried – as they have a great texture, both crisp and soft. A key characteristic is a crispy-skinned chicken and only small chickens achieve that well.
Requires additional resting time
Overview
Prep time
20 mins
Cook time
1 hr
Serves
4
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 30g butter, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp chopped herbs, a mixture of thyme, oregano and rosemary
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- a good squeeze of lemon juice
- 1 chicken, about 1.6kg
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
For the migas and salad
- 250g slightly stale, open-textured country-style bread, torn into chunks
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 55g raisins
- 30ml saba or sweetish sherry
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 125g spring onions, trimmed and chopped on the diagonal
- 55g pine nuts, toasted
- 225g lettuce leaves
For the dressing
- 1 tbsp white-wine vinegar, or as needed
- ¼ tsp Dijon mustard, or as needed
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (a fruity one), or as needed
- a pinch of sugar, or as needed
Method
Step
Heat the oven to 190C/180C fan/gas mark 5.
Step
Mash 30g butter with 2 tbsp chopped herbs, 1 finely grated garlic clove, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some pepper.
Step
Cover and put in the fridge until it is firm enough to use, but not for so long that it becomes solid. You need to be able to work it with your hands.
Step
Dry 1 x 1.6kg chicken on the outside with kitchen paper. If it’s dry it will roast better. Lift the skin on the breast – without tearing it – and carefully push the butter down in between the leg meat and skin – as far as you can go – and over the breast.
Step
Season inside and out using sea-salt flakes – the sea salt will help the chicken to go golden with crisp skin. Roast for 50 minutes, until cooked through.
Step
Prepare the migas while the chicken is roasting. Moisten 250g slightly stale bread chunks with 3 tbsp whole milk and 3 tbsp water, and leave to sit for about 15 minutes.
Step
Put 55g raisins in a small pan with a mixture of 30ml saba or sweetish sherry and water (enough to cover the raisins). Bring this to a boil then pull the pan off the heat and leave so the raisins can plump up for 30 minutes.
Step
Add 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oill to a frying pan and sauté 125g trimmed and chopped spring onions until slightly soft, a couple of minutes, then add 55g toasted pine nuts. Drain the raisins and add them too. Set this mixture aside.
Step
Lightly squeeze each piece of bread, not to remove all the moisture, just some.
Step
Heat 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil in another frying pan and fry the pieces of bread on a high heat for about 40 seconds, then turn the heat down and cook for another 15 minutes, turning every so often. They should be mostly crisp on the outside and fluffy inside, but it’s good if you end up with a mixture of textures (soft bread and crisp bread). Put these in a broad, shallow bowl and cover tightly with foil.
Step
Take the chicken out of its roasting tin. Put it on a warm dish then cover. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes.
Step
Pour the fat and cooking juices out of the roasting tin into a glass jug. Throw in some ice cubes so that the fat can rise to the top. Skim this off.
Step
Set the roasting tin over a medium heat, add the cooking juices and, when the juices start to bubble, add 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp sherry vinegar and about 75ml water.
Step
Bring this to a boil, scraping the base of the tin with a wooden spoon to dislodge all the flavours that are stuck to it. Taste and decide whether you like the flavour. You might want to add a little water if it’s too strong.
Step
Quickly whisk together 1 tbsp white-wine vinegar with ¼ tsp Dijon mustard, 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of sugar to make the dressing. Taste to see whether you need to make any adjustments.
Step
Throw 225g lettuce leaves into a broad, shallow bowl with the warm migas and the soaked raisins.
Step
Add the dressing. Toss around. Pour over about 3 tbsp chicken juice and vinegar mixture, and toss again. Joint the chicken and put it on top. Spoon on a little more juice and vinegar mixture, and serve.