Chicken Marbella Updated

by LEON BOUTEILLER

Updated classic recipes seem to be everywhere, in cookbooks, magazines and chef’s restaurant menus. I think this is happening more recently. I admit that I change most every recipe, even those that are my own.

Updating a classic recipe while maintaining the original’s integrity is a fun and creative endeavor. Sometimes the original doesn’t quite suit your taste or needs. A little bit of this, a little bit less of that. Perhaps you get halfway through a recipe, look in the pantry for an ingredient and realize it has been used and not replaced. You substitute or omit an ingredient and voila, you have something new yet familiar.

I recently to wanted to make Chicken Marbella with a recipe made popular by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins in the Silver Palate cookbook to serve as the main course for a party.This book every cook should include in his library. The recipe calls for four chickens but I only needed a meal for two plus leftovers. I cut the recipe back to one chicken, searched through my pantry and found that I’d not replaced the prunes but had dried figs. The recipe calls for green olives and capers, but I thought not nearly enough so I added a Mediterranean mix of black and green olives. I substituted the white wine for Madeira wine.

Here is my recipe and, if you want to serve a crowd, it will scale up beautifully to whatever sized group you wish to serve.

CHICKEN MARBELLA UPDATED

Ingredients:

  • 1 four and a half to five pound chicken

  • 3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 tablespoon dry oregano

  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt

  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 cup dried figs, quartered

  • 1 cup pitted olives, green and black

  • 2 tablespoons capers

  • 4 bay leaves

  • ¼ cup brown sugar

  • ½ cup Madeira or Marsala

  • ½ cup chicken stock

  • Chopped parsley for garnish

Method

  • Cut the chicken into ten pieces; remove the back and save for stock. Cut the leg quarters away and separate the leg from the thigh. Cut the wings and wing drums away and leave in one piece. Cut the breasts in half

  • Place the chicken pieces in a bowl with the garlic, oregano, salt, black pepper, red wine vinegar, olive oil, figs, olives, capers, bay leaves and Madeira and toss to coat the chicken pieces. Cover and refrigerate overnight to marinate

  • Preheat the oven to 350F degrees

  • Place the chicken pieces in one layer on a roasting pan and distribute the marinade including the figs, olives etc evenly over and around the chicken

  • Drizzle the chicken stock around the pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over each piece of chicken

  • Roast in the oven for 50 minutes or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165F degrees

  • Remove from the oven and let stand ten minutes before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley

This recipe, even with the changes, is very much like the classic original. It’s delicious and fairly easy to prepare. If cutting up a chicken is uncomfortable, you can substitute the equivalent of chicken parts available at your grocery store. Serve with rice, millet or roasted fingerling potatoes and you’re set to go.

Enjoy!

Leon G Bouteiller was born and raised in Northwest Connecticut. He has held several jobs as chef in the community. He is now retired and living in Cornwall with his wife Patrice and a love of the outdoors. They are joined by their pets, a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog named Banjo and two rescue cats called Ricky and Lucy.

Back
to
Top