This Saturday's Meal...Chicken Marbella

Years ago, my mom and I were invited to my friend Cathy's house for dinner. Her niece Tina (also my friend and wonderful cook) made Chicken Marbella. We all oooed and awwed and cooed with pleasure. We asked for the recipe and I've carried her dot-matrix printed recipe with me all these years. Not too long ago, I found out that the recipe came from the Silver Palate Cookbook...and I thought Tina made up the recipe!

I just recently (like the last 5 years- yes, that IS recent for me) pulled it out and started making it. It is a great recipe to impress guests--it tastes complicated and time intensive...that's probably why I hadn't made it. However, it is really easy. Plus, you can use pretty much any cut of chicken. I bought chicken thighs on sale and decided to use them. I made the marinade today and poured it over the chicken. I'll bake it tomorrow. By the way, it is easy to half the recipe. In fact, I quartered the recipe for Anthony and me. There's no way we could eat 4 chickens before they go bad.

Chicken Marbella
from Tina Duclos (and The Silver Palate Cookbook)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 12 or more hours
Cooking time: approximately 1 hour
Yield: 12-14 servings

Ingredients:

4 chickens, 2-1/2 pounds each, quartered
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
1/4 cup dried oregano
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white wine
1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh coriander (cilantro), finely chopped

Directions:

1. Arrange each piece of chicken in a casserole pan close together. Mix marinade together and pour over chicken. Marinate over night.

2. On the next day, sprinkle chicken with brown sugar.

3. Bake at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

Tina recommends browning the chicken at a higher heat and then putting foil over the top and baking. I'll probably skip that part...too much work.