Chicken Marbella

Apparently chicken Marbella was a big phenomenon in 1980s, made famous by the Silver Palate cookbook and popularized across the US as a fancy dinner party entree. Not only that, but chicken Marbella is currently enjoying a massive resurgence in popularity (at least online), thanks in part to Ina Garden. I had no idea of any of that when I picked this recipe from Ottolenghi Simple for a previous idea post. Despite the fact that my parents had a copy of the Silver Palate cookbook when I was growing up, I'd never heard of chicken Marbella. I can't remember what they made for dinner parties, but I'm willing to bet it wasn't that.

Let's get this out of the way immediately. If you don't like oregano, you're not going to like this chicken Marbella. It is oregano-forward, which I feel is pretty unusual for most chicken dinners, and oregano is an herb that some people dislike when it plays more than a small supporting role. Likewise, if you or someone else you're feeding doesn't care for olives and/or dates, it's best you skip this chicken Marbella in favor of something else. I highly recommend the chicken with miso, ginger, and lime or one-pan chicken with kale and butternut squash instead.

Still here? This is a simple yet impressive chicken dish that takes under 20 minutes to prep, but it benefits from a looooong period of marinating. I let mine marinate for a full 54 hours in the fridge before roasting, but Ottolenghi notes that you can get away with less time if you're in a hurry.

After you prep the marinade, go about your business for 30 minutes to 48 hours, then it is time to pre-heat your oven to 400 F. These chicken legs take up a lot more space than you might expect in a roasting pan. In order to fit them into a single layer without touching, you're probably going to need to use two roasting pans, each at least 9x13x2". If that's the case for you, you'll want to split the chicken legs evenly between the two pans, adding the marinade plus an additional ⅓ cup of chicken broth to each pan to enable basting several times during roasting. If you're desirous of crispy skin, when the chicken is almost cooked, you'll want to place the legs skin side up under the broiler for ~3 minutes to get a golden brown, crunchy skin layer. If you skip that step, will be flabby and basically inedible. 

I liked Ottolenghi's chicken Marbella, but I didn't love it. The sauce was just a little too sweet for me (so I've cut down on the number of dates), and the oregano stole the show from the briny olives and capers (so similarly, I've reduced the oregano amount a little). To really get a pop of flavor, you need to dunk the chicken into the cooking juices and fork an olive at the same time. This is certainly doable, but the whole is somehow less wow-ing than the chicken Marbella stories led me to expect. As a simple and "different" weeknight dish goes, this chicken Marbella makes the cut, but didn't earn a spot on the keeper list.

[I know, you're looking at the recipe and then my pictures and wondering where the green olives are. You're right, they would have been better than these pre-pitted kalamata olives, but I bought green olives to make this chicken Marbella about a week before I actually got around to it and they'd gone bad. The best intentions... the pitted kalamata olives worked, and if that's what you have, don't let the lack of fancy green olives hold you back.]

Adapted somewhat from Ottolenghi Simple

Chicken Marbella

An impressively easy roast chicken dinner! While it benefits from a full 24 hours of marinating, it's not strictly necessary. See note for more details.

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Course: Main

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Marinating time: 1 day day

Total Time: 1 day day 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

• 3-4 lb (1.4-1.8 kg; about 8 pieces) chicken legs, skin on and bone in skin scored a few times
• 5 garlic cloves crushed
• ¾ cup/15g fresh oregano leaves* plus extra to serve
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup/100g green olives pitted
• 6 tablespoons/60g capers plus 2 tablespoon of their brine
• 3.5 oz/100g (~½ cup) Medjool dates pitted and quartered lengthwise
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and black pepper
• ½ cup/120ml dry white wine
• 1 tablespoons date molasses or standard molasses
• ½-1 cup chicken broth as needed

Instructions

• Place the chicken in a large nonreactive bowl and add the garlic, oregano, vinegar, oil, olives, capers, dates, and bay leaves, along with 1 teaspoon salt and 5-6 grinds of black pepper. Gently mix everything together, cover the bowl, and leave in the fridge to marinate for 1-2 days**, stirring the ingredients a few times during the process.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Spread out the chicken legs in one large (10x15x2-inches at least) or two medium high-sided baking pan, along with all the marinade ingredients. Whisk together the wine and molasses and pour over the meat. Place in the oven and cook for 50-60 minutes, basting two or three times, until the meat is golden brown on top and cooked through. [If necessary, add a little chicken broth to the pan during cooking to enable basting.]
• Remove from the oven, transfer everything to a large platter, sprinkle with some oregano, and serve.

Notes

*If you don't have fresh oregano, use 1-1.5 teaspoons dried instead.

**If you don't have time to wait for the chicken legs to marinate, just season the legs with salt and pepper (instead of adding them to the marinade), rub the seasonings into the skin well, then place in the pan and pour over the remaining marinade ingredients (no additional salt/pepper required) and bake.