Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad.

Last weekend I finally got to try this awesome looking recipe that I found in the Zuni Café cookbook. Why is this recipe awesome you might ask? Zuni Café is one of San Francisco’s hot spot for dining and this chicken salad is their signature dish.

I wanted to do the dish justice so I did not skimp on any of the required ingredients. This meant another fun from to the specialty market. Hunting down all the special type of greens was quite the learning experience. The labels at the market did not help since they were not next to its corresponding produce. I would have never found the greens if I had not googled the pictures before hand. Salad fans should have no problem though.

I dare not post the recipe, but I think it should be safe to list the ingredients.

A whole chicken
Rosemary
Salt and pepper
Country style bread
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Red wine vinegar
Dried currants
Water
Garlic
Scallion
Arugula
Frisee
Mustard Green

(I was stupid and misread the recipe. It only required only 1 of the three types of greens. So I had a blend of all three types.)

The dished turned out pretty well. The chicken came out of the oven with a very nice color and the skin was slightly crispy. The meat was very tender and juicy. However the breast part was a bit too salty, so I suggest lowered the amount of salt recommended. Or it could have been due to uneven distribution. I thought the salad was close to perfection though. The sweet currants did a nice job in controlling the pleasant bitter bite of the greens. The MPV of the salad was of course the toasted bread. The unequally dressed bread pieces provided nice crispy, chewy and soggy textures.

Left Overs

The bread salad still tastes great after being in the fridge for a few days. But the chicken…………. Taste even better the next day cold. Nothing beats gnawing on a large chicken leg for lunch in front of hungry college students. However I think, it tasted better the next day because I was eating a different part of the chicken. The legs did have less salt on them. I’ll update this the next time I make this.