Chicken Marbella
Adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook
Ingredients:
1 chicken, quartered, bone-in, skin-on (cut the breasts in half to create 8 pieces of chicken)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 T dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ C red wine vinegar
¼ C olive oil
½ -1 C pitted prunes
¼ C pitted Spanish green olives (or more)
¼ C capers with a bit of the juice
3 bay leaves
¼ C light brown sugar
½ C white wine
Optional - parsley for garnish
Directions:
Create a marinade by mixing the garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, vinegar, oil, prunes, olives, capers and bay leaves. Rub this marinade all over the chicken and under the skin. Cover and refrigerate over night.
The next day, place chicken in a single layer in a 9 x 13 baking dish and spoon marinade evenly over chicken. Also, sprinkle the brown sugar over each piece of chicken. Pour the wine around the pan. Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees. Test for doneness by piercing thickest part of a thigh and making sure the juice runs clear and yellow. There should be no pink juice at all.
With a slotted spoon, remove the chicken to a baking sheet and place under the broiler to crisp up the skin, being careful not to burn it. Drain the remaining sauce through a wire sieve into a small sauce pan reserving the olives, capers and prunes. Set this sauce pan in a bowl of ice and allow the fat to congeal. (It took about 5 minutes or so.) When the sauce has cooled sufficiently, remove the fat, and quickly heat it up on the stove.
Return the olives, capers and prunes to the chicken. Serve the sauce over the chicken or on the side in a gravy boat.
