Chicken Marbella submitted by Erin Hardy Burns

I “made” Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate Cookbook it is a recipe my Aunt Amy Haugh introduced to me over 10 years ago when it was a favorite of her small children!

Actually, I did all the prep work back on January 15, 2010 and put ½ of it in the freezer at the marinate stage. All that needed to be done today was to dump the frozen chicken out of the Ziploc bag into the crock pot, add the white wine and brown sugar and cook it all day. When I arrived home from work my house smelled like I had been cooking all day! I quickly roasted asparagus, cooked a basmati rice medley from Trade Joe’s and served it with some leftover yellow zucchini I had grilled this weekend. A home cooked meal after a long day at work that the whole family could enjoy, including my 13 month old daughter!

Chicken Marbella Recipe

2 chickens, 2 1/2 lbs each, quartered, bone-in, skin-on

1/2 head of garlic, peeled and finely puréed

2 Tbsp dried oregano

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup pitted prunes

1/4 cup pitted Spanish green olives

1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice

3 bay leaves

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white wine

2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley or cilantro, finely chopped

1 In a large bowl combine garlic, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers with caper juice, and bay leaves. Add the chicken pieces and coat completely with the marinade. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, several hours or overnight. At this stage I separate it into 2 larger ziploc bags, ½ for now ½ for later!

2 Preheat oven to 350°F.

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 the pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest point, yield clear yellow juice (not pink).

5 With a slotted spoon, transfer chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Add some of the pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro. Serve remaining juice in a gravy boat.

Serves 5.