This Week Dinner Recipe-Chicken Marbella

At the Table with Bryn Black

Get-togethers and Potlucks are always a great place for this easy and LARGE dish.  Prep the night before and your guests will think you spent hours working in the kitchen before your next dinner party.

 Chicken Marbella

(original recipe from “The Silver Palate“)

            It is good hot or at room temperature.  When prepared with small drumsticks and wings, it makes a delicious hors d’oeuvre.

            The overnight marination is essential to the moistness of the finished product: the chicken keeps and even improves over several days of refrigeration; it travels well and makes excellent picnic fare; also great as a Boboli topper.

 4 chickens, 2.5 lbs. each, quarters (or 6 breasts)

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

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1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white wine

1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh cilantro, finely chopped

 1.  In a large bowl combine chicken, garlic, oregano, pepper and coarse salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated overnight.

2.  Preheat over to 350 degrees.

3.  Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly.  Sprinkle chicken pieces with brown sugar and pour white wine around them.

4.  Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with pan juices. 

Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow (rather than pink) juices.

5.  With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter.  Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro.  Pass remaining pan juices in a sauceboat.

6. To serve cold, cool to room temp in cooking juices before transferring to a serving platter.  If chicken has been covered and refrigerated, allow it to return to room temperature before serving.  10 serving portions.