August – the month of Our Blessed Lady’s Assumption, but also the month of les grandes vacances! So here is an idea recently tested in that curious phenomenon, the not over-equipped self-catering kitchen, explains Sam Marsden
Chicken with bread & tomato salad
Good stale bread eg ciabatta
500g tomatoes; various colours
Chicken pieces; roughly 3 thighs per person
Olive oil
Sherry vinegar
Torn basil leaves
Salt and pepper
First, some ingredients: a good baker, a similar butcher and a well-stocked greengrocer will enable you to improvise a meal rather loosely based on the Italian salad, Panzanella. Start with some really good stale bread – a ciabatta would work well and ought to be enough for four. Other loaves are available, but they are not wrapped in plastic! If you didn’t have the foresight to purchase it early enough for it to become stale, cut it up into bite-sized pieces and pop it into a moderate oven for a little while – say 10 or 15 minutes. If you have stale bread, just chop or tear it up without further ado. Place in a generous-sized bowl. You’ll then need about 500g of tomatoes, preferably not all red ones. A sprinkling of other colours will make the dish altogether more interesting. Roughly cut the tomatoes into pieces about the same size as the bread. Cut out the cores from any larger than cherry tomatoes. Place them all in a sieve and position over the bowl, so that the juices drip over, and are absorbed by, the bread.
