Today, we're going to make
a spicy sun-dried tomato, roast chicken,
and eggplant statement salad. (audience applauds)
So good.
So, if you have the time, take your chicken,
salt it on both sides, leave it in the fridge exposed
to the air in the lowest part of the refrigerator,
for obvious reasons, for food safety,
so it doesn't drop on anything,
and you always pat the chicken
or any protein dry before you throw
it into an oven or a pan.
So, that's what we've done here.
This chicken has also been spatchcocked.
What that means is that the backbone,
the spine, has been removed.
We're going to make the slather for the chicken.
So, for the slather, we're gonna start
with sun-dried tomato paste.
So, we're gonna take a little bit of hot water,
just a fat splash, you loosen that up,
and then we're going to combine that
with a couple of fat spoonfuls of Dijon mustard,
so this is spicy, tangy, and sugary-sweet
at the same time.
A little oregano, like, half a palmful,
and then, best friends,
granulated onion and granulated garlic,
they like to go everywhere together.
Red pepper or black pepper,
or both, if you really love pepper,
and then my favorite ingredient,
freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
(audience applauds)
A little olive oil.
We've got a huge, big ol' eggplant,
we've salted it and it's resting on a kitchen towel
to bleed out some of the excess moisture
so we use less oil when we cook it.
When we come back, I'm gonna get this bird in the oven.
When we come back, we'll talk eggplant,
right after this. (audience applauds)
For our statement salad, we take one large eggplant.
You want about a pound-and-a-half to two pounds,
and then I put a layer of olive oil
into a pan over moderate-to-medium-high heat,
until it begins to ripple and waft a tiny bit of smoke,
plain olive oil.
Then, we're going to use the towel
to help us maneuver the eggplant into the pan,
and let that cook until it's evenly brown all over.
For the dressing, we're gonna mirror a lot
of the flavors that we used in the slather
for our roast chicken.
In the bowl, I already have a fat squirt
of sun-dried tomato paste, added a splash of boiling water.
To that, I was grating in garlic when we came in,
a couple of tablespoons of grated shallot or onion,
and I'm working right over the bowl
to catch all of that onion juice,
to flavor the dressing itself.
A fat tablespoon of Dijon, a fat drizzle of honey,
white balsamic vinegar, a couple of tablespoons,
and I'm gonna squeeze the juice of a cut,
seared lemon down in here.
We're gonna whisk,
and then add in our EVOO
in a slow, steady stream to emulsify our dressing.
When it comes to the greens,
we're gonna use a combination of romaine,
gem, or any dark leafy green you like,
and we're gonna marry that with some kale.
I also have sun-dried tomatoes,
we're gonna shred those up into the greens.
I take coarsely-chopped mint, parsley,
oregano, and basil.
I'm gonna take a quick break, toss all of the greens
and the herbs with the dressing.
(audience applauding) I'll meet you right back here.
So, this is how I serve our statement salads,
on a giant cutting board.
So, I put a bed out of our sun-dried tomato vinaigrette
with our mixture of kale and dark leafy greens,
in this case, romaine.
I then put our eggplant mixed with our thinly-sliced,
reconstituted sun-dried tomato down one side, length-wise.
I've mixed in some shaved Parmigiano,
I also pass more shredded Parmigiano
at the table for topping.
I also put out some fresh ricotta cheese.
A little bit of onion down the center,
when you're eating raw onion, rinse it.
I very thinly sliced some red onion here,
but white onion would be delicious, too,
and you give it a rinse just to take
the edge off when you're going to eat raw onion.
And then, down the far side,
we're going to take our chicken.
So, this is our sun-dried-tomato-slathered chicken.
For the breasts, I cut it off the bone,
I drizzled it with more of that charred lemon juice,
right down over the top,
and I ran my knife through it
so this can be sliced chicken, you see?
So, I put the sliced right here,
down the one side,
and then I take the pieces that you would eat
with your fingers and just kind of grab,
so I take the thighs,
the drummers or the legs,
and the wings, and I pile those on the end of the salad.
(audience applauds)