Chicken Marbella (Ottolenghi)

To celebrate the 11th anniversary of Feast Everyday, I made this dish ---a delicious, updated version of classic Silver Palette Chicken Marbella from the 1980's.  

Chef Yotam Ottolenghi uses dates instead of prunes, and molasses instead of brown sugar.  I used chicken legs with thighs but chicken breasts with the wings would work equally well. 

Plus I adapted the recipe to use pantry ingredients instead of fresh, which increases the likelihood I will make it again.  The molasses gives the chicken a beautiful deep brown color.  

We enjoyed the leftovers, too.  I think it would freeze well, if you want to make a big batch and take it out as needed.  

---Barbara

Chicken Marbella
(adapted from Ottolenghi Simple cookbook)

Serves 8

8 chicken legs with thighs (skin on and bone in)
Marinade ingredients:
1.5 T dried minced garlic or 5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1.5  T. dried oregano (or 3/4 cup fresh)
3 T. red wine vinegar
3 T. olive oil
1 small jar or at least 1 cup green olives, pitted and drained
6 T. or one small jar of capers plus 2 T. of their brine
5 Medjool dates, pitted, and quartered lengthwise
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
Roasting sauce: 
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 T. molasses
Garnish:
fresh oregano (optional)

Dry off the chicken with paper towels, and score the skin in several places so it will absorb the marinade.

Place the chicken in a nonreactive dish like glass Pyrex.  Sprinkle it with salt and pepper.  Then sprinkle the garlic and oregano evenly over the chicken.  Add the vinegar and oil.   Then the capers with their juice, and the green olives.  Last add the dates and the bay leaves.

Gently mix it all together, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 days, stirring the ingredients a few times during the process.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Spread out the chicken in one layer on a roasting pan with sides, and add all of the marinade ingredients, too.

Whisk together the molasses and the wine. Then, pour it over the chicken.

Roast for 50 minutes, basting two or three times, until the chicken is golden brown on top and cooked through.

Remove from the oven, and transfer it all to a large serving plate, including the pan juices. Sprinkle with fresh oregano, if using.

I served it with green beans the first night.  And roasted cauliflower another night.

B

Chicken with Wild Mushrooms (Silver Palette) by Tom

UPDATED 2024

Note:  This year (2024) we added 6 ounces of fresh shitake mushrooms and increased the liquids proportionately.  Highly recommend.  

This mushroom preparation is REALLY good.  It requires time to make, so budget about 2 1/2 hours.  However there is a lot of sitting around time while the dried mushrooms are reconstituting themselves, so don't think you will be working all of the time.  But this mushroom recipe makes this chicken dish superb.

Originally I found this recipe in the "The Silver Palate Cookbook".  What struck me was the clever use of mushrooms with the chicken breasts.  I made it several years ago, but just recently rediscovered it.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe (unusual for me!) and served the dish with sautéed spinach with shallots, and Texmati rice. Turned out quite good, if do say so myself.

 ---Tom

Chicken with Wild Mushrooms 
(Silver Palette)

Serves 6

1 cup lower sodium chicken stock
1 ounce dried mushrooms - I used 1/2 ounce morels and 1/2 ounce chanterelles
1/2 pound fresh wild mushrooms (Wegman's has a good blend of different wild mushrooms already   sliced and packaged)

plus 6 ounces fresh shitake mushrooms, if desired
4 tablespoons sweet unsalted butter
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup Port wine
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 boneless chicken breasts, skinned and halved

Before reconstituting the dried mushrooms, be sure to rinse them in cold water to remove any dirt.  Then bring the chicken stock to a boil and pour it over the dried mushrooms in a bowl.  Let stand for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Melt the butter in a skillet and then gently saute the shallots.  You want them to soften, but not brown.  This will take about 5 minutes.

Drain the dried reconstituted mushrooms, but save the liquid.  You will use it shortly.  Chop up the reconstituted mushrooms and add those along with the fresh mushrooms to the shallots and butter mixture in the skillet.  Saute this mixture for about 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, along with the Port wine and heavy cream.  Simmer this mixture for about 15-20 minutes until it thickens slightly and the liquid has been reduced by about a third to half.  This will intensify the flavors.

Spoon the mushroom mixture into the bottom of a shallow baking dish that has been sprayed with PAM to minimize sticking.  Place the chicken breasts on top of the mushrooms, cover, and bake until finished.

Depending on the thickness of the chicken breast, this will take anywhere from 30 - 50 minutes as you are cooking at a relatively low oven temperature.  Check the chicken with a meat thermometer.

Chef Tom's note:  Here is where I did deviate from the recipe when I made this the second time.  I browned the chicken in a skillet prior to putting it on the mushroom mixture.  The baked chicken does come out looking a little anemic if you don't do this.  So if for no other reason than appearance, I would brown the outside a bit.  Also it will speed up the overall cooking time in the oven.

To make the sauteed spinach I used fresh spinach.  I had about 1/8 cup of shallots left over, so I decided to use them in the spinach.  I sauteed them in about a tablespoon of butter for 4 minutes in a skillet.  Then I added the fresh spinach carefully, and cooked it down without the cover on the skillet.  I stirred the mixture a couple of times while cooking and added some salt and pepper to taste.  Cooking spinach to a wilt only takes a few minutes, so watch carefully.

I also prepared Texmati rice per the instructions on the package with one exception.  Instead of using water, I used chicken broth.  This really adds to the flavor of the rice.

The chicken is good, but what really makes this meal are the mushrooms.  I might even find other uses for them with other meats and poultry they were that good.
Enjoy!
                    ---Tom

Honey Cornbread

A moist, sweet cornbread which uses everyday pantry items. Use yellow corn meal for best results. Goes well with 16 Bean Soup with Smoked Ham.  I recently made the hearty soup and updated the recipe to include fireroasted tomatoes, a suggestion from a reader,  which made it even better.
 ---Barbara


Honey Cornbread
(from Indian Head Old fashioned Stone Ground Yellow Corn Meal)

Makes 8 x 8 Inch square or 12 muffins

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 cup milk
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 t. vanilla
1/4 cup honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Grease pan.

Use two bowls.  In a larger bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:  corn meal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, add the eggs, milk, melted butter, vanilla and honey and whisk until well combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined.  Do not overmix.

Pour batter into 8 x 8 inch square pan.  Or a muffin tin, if making muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  Muffins will take 12-17 minutes or until golden brown.

Wait a few minutes, then cut into squares or remove the muffins from the pan.

Best served warm.

Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce from Colleen and Charlotte

Homemade

Charlotte decided to make homemade pasta (that was a messy adventure - but the results were great) and we decided to make some pasta sauce to go along with it.  I was home sick in my jammies, so we had to make do with what we had in the pantry/fridge. We came up with a roasted red pepper sauce that was delicious and really easy to put together.
—- Colleen

Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon of red chili flakes

olive oil

1-2 jars of roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped

1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes (or 1 small can chopped tomatoes, drained)

2 Tablespoons Bomba Tomato paste

1 cup cream or half and half

salt 

basil for garnish 

Saute 2-3 cloves garlic in olive oil

Add in about a teaspoon of red chili flakes and sauté for a minute.  Add in chopped peppers and tomatoes and toss to coat with the garlic and hot peppers.  Add in the tomato paste and stir.  Stir in the cream/half and half.  Season to taste with salt.  Cook until veggies are softened.  Use an immersion blender to puree sauce to texture you prefer.  Serve over pasta or use as sauce for chicken.