Warm Bread Salad
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1tablespoon dried currants
- 1tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2tablespoons pine nuts
- 8 to 10ounces slightly stale ciabatta or other open-textured white bread
- 8tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1½tablespoons Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar, approximately
- Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
- 3garlic cloves, slivered
- ¼cup thinly sliced scallions
- 4tablespoons lightly salted chicken stock or lightly salted water
- 4cups arugula leaves or mustard greens, rinsed and dried
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
477 calories; 33 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 21 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 434 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Place currants in a small dish, add red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon warm water, and set aside. Heat broiler. Place pine nuts in small baking dish, and toast under broiler until very lightly colored. Set aside.
- Step 2
Cut bread into three or four large chunks. Closely trim off most of the crust and reserve, if desired, to toast and use for bread crumbs or to float in soup. Brush bread all over with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Briefly broil bread chunks, turning until crisp and golden on surface. Remove from oven, trim off any charred tips, and tear chunks into irregular pieces, from 2-inch wads to large crumbs. You should have 4 cups. Place in wide metal, glass or ceramic salad bowl.
- Step 3
Whisk ¼ cup olive oil with 1½ tablespoons Champagne vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle 1½ tablespoons of this dressing over bread and toss.
- Step 4
Place one tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet. Add garlic and scallions, and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until softened but not colored. Add to bread and fold in. Drain currants and fold in. Add pine nuts and fold in. Drizzle salad with stock or water, and fold in. Taste a couple of pieces of bread. Add a little more vinegar, salt and pepper if necessary. Toss well, and transfer to a 4-cup baking dish. Tent lightly with foil. Do not wash salad bowl. Set salad aside until about 30 minutes before serving time.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place bread salad in oven, turn off heat, and leave for 15 minutes. Return salad to bowl. Add greens, remaining vinaigrette, and enough of remaining olive oil so bread is not dry. Toss again. Serve with grilled or roasted meat.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
little b
We do Judy Rodgers's Zuni chicken salad, from her Zuni cookbook, about once a month. It is slightly different from this one, using Moroccan dried olives instead of currants (emphasizing nutty over fruity tastes), thinly sliced red pepper instead of scallions, and marinating leftover chicken (from the roasted chicken the day before) in some pan juices before mixing in the ret of the ingredients. It's a superb dish and the reason why we treasure that Zuni cookbook as one of our top five.
Diane B.
The greens go in at the end; the rest of the ingredients - bread, raisins, scallions etc - are mixed together and go in the oven.
Veej
I've made once and it was delicious. Made a similar recipe another time and was very disappointed. The difference? Quality of the bread used in the croutons. With the right bread - lots of texture, plenty of bubbles - this is great. My favorite bread for this has all the qualities of an excellent Neopolitan style pizza dough.
Robbie
from the NYT: Then, instead of roasting a chicken, sear some mushrooms with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. For extra crisp mushrooms, try placing a heavy pot or pan on top to squish them — a life-changing tip I got from the writer Bettina Makalintal. Squished mushroom link from Bon Appetite: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/squish-your-mushrooms?campaign_id=222&emc=edit_veg_20221027&instance_id=75706&nl=the-veggie®i_id=42457327&segment_id=111224&te=1&user_id=60147323b3a5259bbe2744cf86f260
Carlos Del Rey
Re the last step - they idea is replicate how they do it at Zuni Cafe - the salad is served under the roasted chicken, letting the chicken warm the salad and the juices from the chicken flavor it. So warm accordingly, or, not.
Marcia
I was confused as well, even after reading three times, and I finally realized why: The term "bread salad" is used here prior to adding the greens. It would have been much clearer, I think, if the term "bread mixture" had been used instead. That being said, it looks like a great recipe which I intend to try!
Mark
Instead of adding chicken stock, use pan drippings from Zuni roast chicken recipe.
brooke
Watch end step carefully. Croutons burn. Just do ten mins
StylinGirl
Yes, important to note that the warm chicken juices with the seasoned flavors, soaking into the bread salad is where the magic lays!
John M.
This isn't Bon Appetite or a vegan/ vegetarian recipe. Please, stop adding comments/ suggestions for a MEAT recipe. Find another site to post at. Thank you! This recipe is for people who enjoy meat for dinner.
Jude
Absolutely delicious and a mouthwatering presentation made with ingredients as listed. I will double the amount of currants, pine nuts, and arugula next time. Be sure to use champagne vinegar - it has the right kind of zing and bite for this dish and stands up well to the chicken drippings (which, as others have noted, are essential). I made extra dressing and passed at the table.
BB
Unless I did something wrong, I didn't think this dish was worth the effort. The salad part was very heavy. IMO, overloaded with olive oil. I couldn't even taste the currents in the final dish or the garlic and scallions. It was just so so. I've had much better meals that only took 1/4 of the time this did to prepare.
BFF
To make this vegetarian you could replace the meat with an olive oil fried egg (look up the recipe) or even a poached egg. The article suggests replacing the meat with mushrooms but to keep it a complete meal it needs protein.
Judy B.
The mushrooms aren't in the ingredient list.
Ellen
The mushrooms are not a part of this recipe. Commenter Robbie suggests searing up “some” mushrooms. Your call
Robbie
from the NYT: Then, instead of roasting a chicken, sear some mushrooms with olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper. For extra crisp mushrooms, try placing a heavy pot or pan on top to squish them — a life-changing tip I got from the writer Bettina Makalintal. Squished mushroom link from Bon Appetite: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/squish-your-mushrooms?campaign_id=222&emc=edit_veg_20221027&instance_id=75706&nl=the-veggie®i_id=42457327&segment_id=111224&te=1&user_id=60147323b3a5259bbe2744cf86f260
Carol
I just loved this. Great combination of flavors.
cb
Made this with raisins because I couldn’t find currants and very good!
Barbara
It tasted good but way too many steps to make it worthwhile.
Debbie
I like the idea of the bread soaking up chicken juices, so I put the bread in the oven 15 minutes before the (spatchcocked) chicken came out. I also roasted 2 sliced tomatoes in a separate pan. Then I tossed bread, vinaigrette, arugula and tomatoes together and topped with the chicken, which rested on top of the salad. Fabulous meal.
Mark
Instead of adding chicken stock, use pan drippings from Zuni roast chicken recipe.
Nyckie
We made this with homemade sourdough and added 1/2 can of butter beans. Delicious!
Jean Glaser
This was really tasty! It was a bit of prep time but well worth it!
Jesse
Recipe is a bit fussy for a weeknight salad but it's so, so good. I used straight arugula and didn't have currants, so I used Aldi brand dried cranberries like a heathen but there were zero complaints. I could eat this every day (if someone prepared it for me).
Carlos Del Rey
Re the last step - they idea is replicate how they do it at Zuni Cafe - the salad is served under the roasted chicken, letting the chicken warm the salad and the juices from the chicken flavor it. So warm accordingly, or, not.
StylinGirl
Yes, important to note that the warm chicken juices with the seasoned flavors, soaking into the bread salad is where the magic lays!
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