Zuni Café’s Juicy Roast Chicken with Bread Salad

1 3- 3 ½ Lb. Roasting Chicken
1 Loaf French Batard Country Style Bread (crust removed, torn into 1 or 2 inch pieces)
4 Cups Arugula (At least 5 ounces)
½ Cup Green Onions, thinly sliced “on the bias” (at an angle)
½ Cup Currants soaked in 3 T Red Wine Vinegar
¼ Cup Pinenuts
1/4 Cup Champagne Vinegar
¼ Cup Olive Oil
2 or 3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
A few sprigs of Fresh Thyme and Rosemary
Salt and Pepper

Season the Chicken as far in advance as possible, even up to 2 days ahead. Wash and pat dry the chicken completely, removing the chunk of fat from the inside as well as any innards. Using your finger, loosen the skin above the breast meat and slide in a sprig of fresh thyme and rosemary. Do the same over the legs as well as putting a spring inside the body cavity. Spread about ¾ tsp per pound of salt all over the chicken, more liberally on the thicker sections than the ankles and legs. Lightly sprinkle pepper all over as well. Loosely cover and place in refrigerator until ready to cook. Remove the chicken and bring to room temp about 30 minutes before placing in the oven.

Preheat oven to 500. Toss the bread with some olive oil, salt and pepper and broil on top rack of the oven until golden brown but still soft in the center, tossing once midway through cooking. Approx 5-10 min. Watch closely. Remove and set aside in a large bowl.

Turn the oven down to 475 and place the bird in the center of the oven. It should be sizzling within 20 min. If it isn’t, raise the temp by 25 degrees, if it sizzles almost immediately, lower the temp accordingly. After about 25 min, lower the temp by 25 degrees and cook another 30 minutes or until the white meat is at 140 degrees and the dark meat is at 165. (Do not check on your bird too often, it will only prolong the cooking time.)

While chicken is cooking, heat 1 T olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the garlic and
Green onions until soft, do not brown. Add to the bread in the bowl and toss with the currants and pine nuts. For the dressing, combine ¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil with the champagne vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1/3 of the dressing to the bread mixture, toss well and set aside.

When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and let rest on a cutting board for 10 min. Save about 2-3 T of the chicken juices and add to the remaining salad dressing. Toss the arugula in with the bread mixture and the remaining dressing. Cut the chicken into large pieces and nestle on top of the salad served on a large warm platter, family style.

Recipe adapted by M.DeMonte from The Zuni Café Cookbook