Zuni Chicken and Bread Salad

This is such an iconic dish and everyone who has a food blog has already chronicled this, but for me, this was a special undertaking. Maybe it was the cozy lighting and the crisp January air outside, but my first experience at Zuni Cafe, consisting of the Olive oil fettunta (yum!), House-cured anchovies, Caesar salad, Zuni Chicken and Bread Salad and the Red Hawk Cheese (Cowgirl Creamery) was culinary magic for me. Needless to say, it left an deep impression on me. I learned how the best ingredients with artful, sometimes painstaking, preparation makes all the difference. It made me a better cook, for sure.

My friend who I shared the experience with bought me Judy Rodgers' book, the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, and I'm extremely grateful. (Being from Hawaii, it is a little difficult to cook many recipes from this book since we don't have the same sources for ingredients, but it's a very interesting read for any cook.)

I made the chicken and bread salad for a small dinner party, along with a minestrone and the barefoot contessa's deeply chocolate gelato and giada's hazelnut gelato. Here are my pics:













The toasted bread with scallions and currants -- I used LaBrea's Roasted Garlic Loaf. You can find dried currants at Foodland's R. Field or at Whole Foods.













Chicken (before turning over, the skin did end up sticking to the pan even though I preheated it!) The chicken was Mary's from Whole Foods.













Salad dressed, waiting for the chicken













My guests really enjoyed this, and I was extremely glad I was able to share a bit of Zuni with them. I also appreciate Judy Rodgers for writing her cookbook, in such a didactic and detailed way, so home cooks like me can relive our memories at Zuni. The recipe is also online here.