Chicken Marabella

By charlotteh371

Since Chicken Marabella is such a spectacular party dish, we give quantities to serve 10-12 but the recipe can successfully be divided to make a smaller amount if you wish.

Ingredients

• 4 chickens, 2 1/2 pound each, quartered I use bone in breast. I skin them myself.
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and finely pureed
• 1/4 cup dried oregano
• coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste I have used regular salt.
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pitted small prunes or half prunes and half apricots
• 1/2 cup Spanish green olives
• 1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup Italian parsley or fresh coriander (cilantro) finely chopped.

Preparation

Step 1

1. In a large bowl combine chicken, garlic, oregano, pepper and coarse salt to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers and juice, and bay leaves. Cover and let marinate, refrigerated overnight. I have marinated it for two days.

2. Preheat oven to 350

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 put white wine around them. I mix the brown sugar and wine in the marinade and spoon it over the chicken.

4. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with pan juices. Chicken is done when thigh pieces, pricked with a fork at their thickest, yield clear yellow rather than pink juice. I watch the breast for doneness

5. With a slotted spoon transfer chicken, prunes, olives and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of pan juices and sprinkle generously with parsley or cilantro. Pass remaining pan juices in sauceboat. I have always doubled or tripled this recipe when I made it so we just leave it in the pan after cooking with all the juice making sure they can spoon the juice. I also serve it with rice or noodles so they can use the juice over that.

6. To serve Chicken Marabella cold, cool to room temperature in cooking juices before transferring to a serving platter. If chicken has been covered and refrigerated allow it to return to room temperature before serving. Spoon some of the reserved juice over chicken.