Judy's roast chicken

Eastside Road, April 26, 2014—

HERE YOU SEE an unusual photographic perspective on roast chicken. I carved it in the kitchen, and Cook scattered the meat on a bed of arugula, bread, pine nuts, currants — well, for the details, let me simply refer you to one of the great cookbooks of the last twenty years, Judy Rodgers's Zuni Café Coobook. Judy died tragically early last year; she was a friend and an associate; she was a magnificent woman — and her book is a perfect portrait of its author, strong, informed, down to earth, engaged.

Lindsey followed the recipe quite closely, and while for some reason I've never ordered the "signature" roast chicken at Zuni, the result, on our own dining table, immediately took me to that special place, one of the top restaurants in a city not known for its paucity of interesting and rewarding dining spots. We had a couple of friends to dinner, and they'd been to Zuni a few times over the years, and they felt the same way.

That was it: the roast chicken, and a nice green salad afterward, and then zabaglione with strawberries. Lindsey's a fine cook, whether on the savory side or the sweet. I don't get enough of her desserts. This zabaglione was first-rate.

Pouilly-Fuissé, Clos Reyssié, 1999: mature, full-bodied, coasting on the peak of its curve; "Bordeaux blend,"Cabernet Sauvignon, Caberne Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot, Cyrus (Alexander Valley), 2006 (deep and full, not quite ready, strong)