Sheet Pan Chicken BLT Panzanella

I’ve spoken before about travel food fragility, and I’m sure I will speak about it again. And yet, every time we go on a trip, I’m a little caught off guard when my “pretty good” eater refuses anything but fried potatoes and beige carbs.

On the one hand, her meals turned out to be entirely free by way of the bread basket. On the other hand, she didn’t poop for two days. So there’s that.

Even before this trip and my child’s slow metamorphosis into a dinner roll, I have been thinking about component meals that involve something that each family member can get behind.

This baked chicken panzanella salad was one of my favorite recipes in my last cookbook, CARBIVORE. And it’s been on my mind as a perfect Munch Menu recipe.

The bread itself gets cubed or torn and then baked in the oven on a sheet pan brimming with chicken and bacon fat.

For those who eat vegetables, the bread then gets tossed with marinated tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and arugula—plus the chopped chicken thighs and bacon. For those who don’t, you can always divvy up the meal into quadrants or celebrate the bread as its own main course.

No matter which way you serve it, dinner will be ready with minimal effort on one pan in 30-ish minutes. A bonus, for those of us cooking in temporary kitchens, is that you don’t need many spices or condiments—just balsamic vinegar and oil.

Our new casita for the summer, like many rentals, only has a few skillets and pots, so we plan on making this meal on repeat with cured Spanish ham. Last night was our first time breaking in the induction range and I made one of my favorite tapas (which I somehow haven’t found on a restaurant menu yet!): stewed chickpeas and spinach.

Back in the comfort of home, even a new borrowed home, munch broke her bread-only hunger strike and ate a handful of cherry tomatoes and cucumber. She even deigned to try a chickpea. Progress!

Last summer I wrote a silly toddler vacation travel diary, and may do so again if there is demand for more ratings from a tiny critic. Please tell me in the comments! Also, I’d love to hear any fellow dinnertime war stories from your adventures.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to getting back into a better cooking rhythm and slowly weaning off our two-ice cream a day vacation diet.

Happy munching!

Phoebe

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Sheet Pan Chicken BLT Panzanella with Vinegared Tomatoes
Makes 4 servings

The best panzanella I ever ate involved bread that was baked together with chicken. The croutons were both crisp and soaked in drippings—kind of like a summer salad interpretation of stuffing. When I tried to recreate it, I thought, why not add some bacon grease to the pan for good measure? And that’s how this BLT-style panzanella that can be, more or less, made start to finish on one sheet pan came to pass. I love entertaining at lunchtime with this salad since each element—the chicken, bacon, and bread—can be baked ahead, then tossed together with the marinated tomatoes when you’re ready to serve. Although I usually can’t say no to a good schmear of mayo on a BLT, the acid from the vinegared tomatoes works even better as a dressing in this dish.