Roast Chicken With Warm Fregola and Butternut Squash Salad Recipe

Daniel Gritzer
Roast Chicken With Warm Fregola and Butternut Squash Salad Recipe
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  • Yield:Serves 4
  • Active time:45 minutes
  • Total time:1 hour 15 minutes (including chicken and jus preparation)

Welcome fall with a roast chicken and a simple butternut squash and pasta side salad. [Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Roast chicken and butternut squash are two classic fall dishes. Here, the squash is roasted, then tossed with fregola, a toasted Sardinian pasta similar in appearance to Israeli couscous. Fresh herbs and a grating of lemon zest bring bright flavors to the plate.

Why It Works

A simple dinner, perfect for autumn weather. Read the Whole Story
  • Spatchcocking the chicken results in more even cooking.
  • Using the chicken trimmings to make a jus creates a quick and easy sauce.

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe Butterflied Roasted Chicken With Quick Jus
  • 1 pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small dice
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 pound (250 grams) fregola (about 1 1/4 cups; see note above)
  • 3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions, white and light green parts only
  • 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
  • 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves and tender stems
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons zest from 1/2 lemon

Directions

  1. 1.

    Place diced squash on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with enough oil to lightly coat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook alongside the chicken in a 500°F oven until tender, about 15 minutes. Set aside.

  2. 2.

    In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook fregola until al dente, according to package timing. Drain, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

  3. 3.

    Add squash to fregola. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, scallions, mint, parsley, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

  4. 4.

    Serve squash and fregola salad with roasted chicken and jus; drizzle fregola with more oil as needed before serving.

Daniel Gritzer
Culinary Director

Daniel cooked for years in some of New York's top American, Italian and French restaurants - starting at the age of 13, when he began staging at the legendary restaurant Chanterelle. He spent nearly a year working on organic farms in Europe, where he harvested almonds and Padron peppers in Spain, shepherded a flock of more than 200 sheep in Italy, and made charcuterie in France. When not working on, thinking about, cooking and eating food, he blows off steam (and calories) as an instructor of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art.

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