The Best Chicken is Judy Rodgers' Suni Cafe Chicken (with Panzanella salad)

Kathy's adaptation of Judy Rodgers' Suni Cafe Chicken & Salad

Chicken

Small chicken @ 3.5 lbs. A bigger chicken is difficult to cook at high temp to get crispy on the outside and cook through with this approach.

Cut up the backbone and open the chicken like a book to cook it flat (some stores sell chickens already prepped like this, called spatchcocked)

The night before dinner, prepare the chicken:

Remove the piece of fat inside and

Rinse with water and dry thoroughly. Emphasis on the drying so the chicken will get crispy when cooked.

Salt all over, 3/4 teaspoon per pound of chicken of kosher or sea salt flakes

Store in Refrigerator, lightly covered.

The night of cooking, remove chicken from the fridge, uncover it, to bring up the temperature and let the surface moisture evaporate.

Pre-heat Grill to 450-500 F

Start with boneside down for 5.5 minutes.

Then flip for 5.5 minutes on the other side.

Then turn over for 5 minutes

Then turn over again to crisp the skin and check temperature (breast 160 and dark meat 180)

Can also roast in a very hot oven 475 in a pre-heated cast iron skillet.

Panzanella Salad

1 ciabatta loaf of bread (or homemade sourdough bread), with top and bottom crusts removed, generously brushed with olive oil and baked in oven at 450 until golden brown on top and bottom (flip it over a couple of times during cooking). After cooling slice and then tear into bite-sized pieces.

2 sweet peppers chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 red onion sliced thin

2 tbs raisins soaked in balsamic vinegar until soft and then drained.

Toss in dressing:

1.5 Tablespoon of Champagne vinegar

1/4 cp olive oil

1 large garlic clove or two small sliced and cooked in a bit of olive oil until soft

Salt and pepper.

Just before serving, add and mix-in:

2 tbs pine nuts toasted in a pan with a little olive oil

1/2 a head of red leaf lettuce.

A handful of basil leaves julienned with kitchen scissors.