Chicken Baked on a Bed of Bread and Swiss Chard

August 3, 2021 • Chard

This recipe from Melissa Perello is taken from Food and Wine.

This one-pot dish was inspired by chef Judy Rodgers's famous wood-fired roasted chicken at Zuni Café in San Francisco. Rodgers serves the chicken over bread and a salad, but Melissa Perello goes further and cooks the chicken over croutons tossed with greens, capers and golden raisins

Serves 4

Ingredients

250 day-old peasant bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 1/2 loaf)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup salted capers, rinsed well
1/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
1 large bunch of Swiss chard (about 200-500g - stems finely chopped, leaves torn into pieces)
3 shallots, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 1.5kg chicken, skinned and cut into 8 pieces, or 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs and/or drumsticks

Photo from Food and Wine by Frances Janisch

Directions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with the olive oil, capers, raisins, Swiss chard, shallots, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and black pepper. Spread the bread in a large enameled cast-iron casserole.
Step 2

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and arrange them over the bread. Cover the chicken with a piece of parchment paper and close the casserole with a heavy lid. Bake the chicken for 35 minutes.
Step 3

Remove the lid and parchment paper and increase the oven temperature to 400°. Bake the chicken for 10 to 12 minutes longer, or until golden on top and cooked through. Remove the casserole from the oven and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Serve the chicken with the bread and greens.

The recipe is quite versatile. You can also add your preferred sauce for a different dimension. Tomato sauce is added for the image above.

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