Chicken Caesar Salad with Chicken Fat Croutons
Ingredients: bone-in skin-on dark meat chicken pieces (thighs), olive oil, salt, pepper, dried sage · 110 min cook time · 580kcal · $22.50
Ingredients
1.5pounds bone-in skin-on dark meat chicken pieces (thighs), to coat olive oil, to taste salt, to taste pepper, pinch dried sage, 1whole lemon, 0.5pound bread (stale leftover bread), 2cloves garlic, big squeeze mayonnaise, 2fillets anchovy fillets, shot Worcestershire sauce, 2heads romaine lettuce, 2whole shallots, pat butter
Instructions
1. Place bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces in a baking dish skin-side up. Drizzle with olive oil, season generously with salt and pepper, add dried sage, and grate in some lemon zest. Toss to coat.
2. Tear stale bread into large flat pieces and place them around and underneath the chicken pieces in the baking dish, ensuring the bread is covered with chicken as much as possible.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) with convection for about 1.5 hours. Halfway through, move pieces around if some bread is uncovered to prevent burning.
4. Make the dressing: In a measuring cup, add minced garlic cloves, a big squeeze of mayonnaise, anchovy fillets, lemon juice, olive oil, a shot of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of salt, and a ton of pepper. Blend with an immersion blender until emulsified.
5. Remove the baking dish from the oven. Transfer the cooked chicken pieces to a plate to cool.
6. Chop the baked bread into crouton-sized pieces, return them to the baking dish to crisp up further in the oven. Taste and add more salt or butter if desired, stirring occasionally.
7. Prepare the romaine lettuce: Tear leaves into bite-sized pieces, submerge in a big bowl of water to wash and let sand settle, then transfer to a salad spinner and dry thoroughly.
8. Finely mince shallots and add them to the bowl of prepared lettuce.
9. Pull the skin off the cooked chicken thighs and put the skins back in the oven with the croutons to get hot and crispy. Pull the moist meat apart, discarding bones and any unwanted cartilage.
10. Assemble the salad: Add the pulled chicken and crispy chicken-fat croutons to the bowl of lettuce and shallots. Pour dressing conservatively over the salad, toss well, and top with shaved parmesan cheese and crispy chicken skin shards.
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