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Warm Spring Vegetable Salad with Drumsticks and Crisp Croutons

Photo: Kerri Conan

BY The Editors

PUBLISHED April 18, 2024

The foundation of this one-skillet meal are chicken drumsticks, a flavorful, fast-cooking, and inexpensive cut that’s often on sale. But instead of cooking a lot of them, you use their rich pan drippings to crisp day-old bread into croutons for a warm vegetable salad. This less-meat-more-vegetable approach to eating—which is actually practiced throughout most of the world—treats animal protein as a seasoning. The results are satisfying, nourishing, and economical.

The recipe here also describes how to move ingredients in and out of a single pan as you prepare the components, so you’re busy but not frantic, and clean-up is easy. For the spring vegetables, choose your favorites from whatever looks best at the supermarket: asparagus, spinach, radishes (they’re delicious lightly cooked!), snap or sugar peas, or chard or romaine lettuce. Cook them just long enough to become crisp-tender—or keep going if you like your vegetables soft—toss in lemony-mustard dressing, nestle in a drumstick or two, and top with those delicious croutons. 

 

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Cost: $11.50 (not including olive oil or mustard)

Leftovers: Pull extra chicken from the bone and chop the cold vegetables; stir in some mayonnaise, if you like, for a sandwich.

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Warm Spring Vegetable Salad with Drumsticks and Crisp Croutons

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Makes 4 meal-size salads 1x

Time 1 hour, including prep

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 small or 1/2 medium onion (any kind you like)
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds spring vegetables (see the recipe note for ideas)
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • 1 tablespoon mustard (Dijon, coarse grain, or yellow)
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken drumsticks (4 to 6, depending on the size)
  • 4 to 8 slices slightly old bread, preferably whole wheat (or 4 buns or English muffins)
  • Pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Prepare the vegetables before you start cooking and keep them separate as you work. Halve the onion in either direction and slice thinly; trim and rinse the vegetables or greens, then leave them whole or slice or chop as you like best. (You can do all this up to several hours before cooking; cover and refrigerate until it’s time to eat.) Cut the lemon and put it near the stove with the mustard, olive oil, and the measuring spoons.
  2. Put 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot but not yet smoking, add the chicken and sprinkle with salt. Adjust the heat so the pieces sizzle without burning and cook undisturbed, until the skin browns and releases easily from the pan, 3 to 5 minutes. Continue to cook and turn the drumsticks often to help them brown in places all over, about 5 minutes more.
  3. Turn the heat to medium-low, add 1/3 cup water, and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Cover and cook until the thickest part of a drumstick is no longer pink at the bone, 10 to 15 min. (Use a small knife to cut into one and peek.)
  4. While the chicken cooks, chop or tear the bread into bite-size bits. When the chicken is ready, move it to a plate, measure 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil into the skillet with the drippings and return the pan to medium heat. Fry the bread, stirring and scraping almost constantly with a spatula, until the bread is crisp in some places but still soft in others, about 5 minutes. Transfer the croutons to a serving bowl and let them sit.
  5. Rinse out pan if it’s got dark bits in the bottom and get 1/2 cup water handy by the stove. Set the skillet back on medium heat and add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Cook the onion first, stirring occasionally until it softens and starts to turn golden, about 3 minutes. Then add the vegetables, starting with the firmest vegetables first (like the radishes and asparagus) and ending with the tenderest greens. Cook and stir until the vegetables are a little bit crisper than you ultimately want them, 5 to 10 minutes depending on what you chose. To test, poke them with a fork often.
  6. Raise the heat to high and stir the water into the skillet. When it starts to steam and bubble away, turn off the heat. Squeeze the juice from the lemon halves into the pan, using your fingers or a strainer to catch the seeds. Add the mustard and stir until the dressing is combined. (It’s fine if it separates a little.) Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper if you like. Serve with the chicken, passing the croutons at the table.

— Recipes developed by The Bittman Project for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project 

Recipe variations

Warm Spring Vegetable Salad with Fish and Crisp Croutons
Substitute fish fillets about 1 inch thick for the chicken; the other ingredients stay the same. To choose fish that is sustainably caught or raised, you can search the Seafood Watch for recommendations. (Some stores also have reliable labeling.) Frozen is often a good option; to thaw it quickly, put it in a bowl of tap water in the sink for 15 to 30 minutes and use that time to prepare the vegetables. Cut or tear the bread as described in Step 4 before starting. When you’re ready to cook, pat the fish dry with a clean towel and cook it as described in Steps 2 and 3, only you’ll drastically reduce the cooking time. The browning stage will take about 1 minute per side, and after adding water and covering, the fish will be ready after 3 to 5 minutes simmering. Peek with a knife as described to check the inside–the fish is ready when it’s firm, opaque at the center, and flaky without looking dry. Transfer it to a plate and wash the pan well before continuing with the recipe with Step 4.

Warm Spring Vegetable Salad with Pork Chops and Crisp Croutons
You can simply swap 4 small or two large 1-inch thick bone-in or boneless pork chops for the chicken. The directions and visual cues remain the same.

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