By Linda Basset
On winter weekends, I like to thumb through old cookbooks searching for old treasures. I might want to revive one of grandma’s recipes, renew it or tweak it for the present day. I just struck gold: Chicken Marbella.
In the last two decades of the past century, home cooks made this a dinner party go-to. Kind of show-off-y, chicken is surprisingly combined with pitted prunes, green olives and capers in a roasting pan. Originally created at Manhattan’s Silver Palate food shop back in the 1970s and 1980s, it was that carry-out venue’s “gold standard.” The Silver Palate itself was a blockbuster business in its day. Customers would stop in on the way home from work to choose dinner from a display of main courses, maybe a side dish or dessert. The chicken became a standard at the large casual dinner party. Young couples celebrated it on candlelit tables.
The shop’s popular owners, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, partnered with food writer Michael McLaughlin, for a cookbook filled with their food and joyous entertaining philosophy, decorated with hand drawings. Cooks far from Manhattan, enthusiastically embraced Chicken Marbella, easily whipped up in huge batches. Some people bought the book for the lifestyle; others just for that recipe – and maybe the one for chocolate cake. (More successful cookbooks followed.)
To bring it into the current century. I reduced what seemed like an overwhelming amount of olive oil and sugar. I switched the dried oregano for fresh leaves. (Do a taste test to see the amazing difference.) I substituted chicken thighs for the assorted chicken pieces. Use boneless or bone-in but keep the skin on as that’s where the sugar works its subtle magic.
REVIVED, RENEWED, REINVENTED CHICKEN MARBELLA
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Lukins and Rosso suggested room temperature with a baguette and chocolate chip cookies
for dessert. I like it served at the table hot from the baking dish with the juices spooned over it.
Definitely a chocolate dessert.
½ cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1cup pitted prunes
½ cup pitted plain green olives
½ cup capers, plus brine from the jar
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, peeled and puréed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
salt, fresh ground black pepper
6 pounds chicken thighs
1 cup dry white wine
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup finely chopped flat parsley
In a large, leak-proof plastic bag, combine olive oil, vinegar, prunes, olives, capers and a teaspoon or two of brine from the jar, bay leaves, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.
Add the chicken pieces turning to mix the ingredients, coating the chicken.
Transfer to the refrigerator for at least four hours to overnight. (Place the bag in a bowl in case of leakage.) If you think of it, turn the bag from time to time.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Place chicken thighs in a single layer in a shallow roasting pan;
spoon the marinade over them. Pour in the wine into the baking pan and sprinkle the brown sugar over the top.
Bake until juices run clear when pierced with a sharp knife, 50 to 60 minutes. Baste every 15 minutes with pan juices. If chicken pieces start to brown too soon, cover the pan loosely with foil.
With tongs, transfer chicken to a serving platter. With a slotted spoon, take the prunes, olives and capers from the pan and add to the platter. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Linda Bassett lived in Marblehead for years and has worked as a cook, trained up-and-coming chefs, studied food history and led food tours. Her book, “From Apple Pie to Pad Thai,” is about local cooks and cooking.
