EcrosTechWiki | Recipes / Chicken Marbella

Adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook, by Julia Rosso and Sheila Lukins, ISBN 0894802038. This dish is great for feeding lots of company as most of the work needs to be done well ahead of time. I find that most people are content with just one chicken quarter, but you can easily figure out what to cook based on the appetites of your guests. Just adjust all the ingredients in rough proportion. I've not served Chicken Marbella cold, but the original recipe says you can, either by cooling after it has cooked or by refrigerating and allowing to return to room temperature.

4 or 5	.....	Chicken breasts, halved, or 8 to 10 chicken quarters
one	.....	Head of garlic, peeled and puréed, minced or finely chopped
¼ cup	.....	Dried oregano
to taste	.....	Coarse salt (I use none at all)
to taste	.....	Freshly ground black pepper (I use a lot)
½ cup	.....	Red wine vinegar
½ cup	.....	Olive oil
1 cup	.....	Dried pitted prunes, cut in half or into smaller pieces
½ cup	.....	Spanish green olives, pitted, halved if large
½ cup	.....	Capers, with a bit of juice
6	.....	Bay leaves
1 cup	.....	Brown sugar
1 cup	.....	White wine
¼ cup	.....	Italian (not curly) parsley, finely chopped

The day before the meal, combine the chicken, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and their juice and the bay leaves. Cover and refrigerate overnight. You can do this in any bowl that's big enough, but a special Tupperware™ marinade thingy is just ideal as you can flip it over from time to time and mix it all up. Actually, you can put it in a strong plastic bag and take in on vacation with you. Unless, that is, like me you forget and leave it at home in the refrigerator (true story), but even then it's still good to cook a week later when you come home!

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the chicken pieces out, in a single layer if possible, in one or more shallow baking pans. Spoon the marinade evenly over them, including all the solid stuff. Pour the white wine into the pan around the chicken and sprinkle the whole lot with the brown sugar. Cook, uncovered, in the oven until done. How long this takes will depend on how much chicken you've got and will be a bit longer if you have thighs in the mix. Start checking at 30 minutes and look for clear, not pink, juices when the pieces are probed at their thickest part.

To serve, transfer the chicken pieces to a warmed platter and with a slotted spoon remove the solids from the marinade and arrange it attractively over and around the chicken. Moisten this with a few spoonfuls of the liquid marinade and sprinkle the parsley on top. Put the remainder of the liquid in a sauce boat and serve separately (optionally, put the pan on the stove top and reduce the liquid to thicken it). Of course, for family occasions you can serve directly to plates, but remember the parsley and the extra sauce.