chicken marbella

Nan­cy made this for us last year, and it was great.  Appar­ent­ly a clas­sic.  Adding it to the blog now because it’s today’s shop­ping list.

• 4 chick­ens, 2½ pounds each, quar­tered
• 1 head of gar­lic, peeled and fine­ly pureed
• ¼ cup dried oregano
• coarse salt and fresh­ly ground black pep­per
• ½ cup red wine vine­gar
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 cup pit­ted prunes
• ½ cup pit­ted Span­ish green olives
• ½ cup capers or caper­ber­ries with a bit of juice
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 cup brown sug­ar
• 1 cup white wine
• ¼ cup chopped Ital­ian pars­ley or cilantro

In a large bowl com­bine gar­lic, oregano, salt and pep­per, 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.

Pre­heat oven to 350°F.  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.

Bake for 50 min­utes to 1 hour, bast­ing fre­quent­ly with the sauce.  Chick­en is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thick­est point, yield clear yel­low juice (not pink).

With a slot­ted spoon, trans­fer chick­en, prunes, olives, and capers to a serv­ing plat­ter.  Add sauce and sprin­kle with pars­ley or cilantro.