Chicken Marbella...Marinated Over Night!

 

This first time I made and ate chicken marbella was with my cousin, Megan, and friend, Sarah. However since we were just getting together in the evening we hadn't marinated the chicken overnight. The chicken was still so delicious that I couldn't imagine how it would taste had it been marinated overnight so I had been eager to try it! For Andy's birthday dinner, since I knew of it a day in advance, I was able to prepare the chicken the night before and let it marinate over night. This recipe is right out of the Sliver Palate Cookbook and the only modifications I made were increasing the olives and prunes. After reading many reviews on this recipe I have learned that if you don't have all night, it's fine to marinate the chicken for 5 hours. I served this with cumin curry popovers and a fennel and apple salad. This dish is really easy to pull together and is great for dinner parties, enjoy!

Chicken Marbella...Marinated Over Night!

(Adapted from Simply Recipes adapted from Silver Palate)

Ingredients:

4 large chicken breasts

1/2 head garlic, peeled and minced

2 tablespoons dried oregano

Course salt and ground pepper

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup pitted prunes

1 cup pitted Spanish green olives

1/4 cup capers with a little bit of juice

3 bay leaves

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white wine

2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley

Directions:

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.

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