Chicken Marbella Tray Bake
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves: 4
- 1.1 kgs/2.4lbs chicken thighs, skin on or off
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided in 2
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 2/3 cup pitted Spanish olives
- 2/3 cup prunes, pitted
- 2 tablespoons capers, drained
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 capsicum, sliced (optional)
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
Step 1 - Mix the oil (half of the oil), vinegar, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, garlic, olives, prunes, capers, parsley and capsicum together. Then add this to the chicken into a bowl or container and marinate in the in the fridge overnight or for 24 hours.
Step 2 - Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and arrange the chicken and other bits in a baking tray or dish. Add the wine and sprinkle brown sugar on top of the chicken pieces. Drizzle with remaining oil and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Serve with brown rice, polenta or risotto.
Personal Note
The only other advice apart from please try it is consider doubling the recipe. I wished I had. I gave half of this to my friend Sammie because she is in ISO. I mean here we are 2 years on and COVID is still a presence in the world. Sammie's husband David ended up positive and poor Sammie was beside herself as she has her adorable cavoodle Teddy Roo and they're not allowed to leave their apartment as she is a close contact. While she can manage life in ISO, she was worried about Teddy Roo and practical matters such as how he would get a walk and relieve himself. We happily offered to take Teddy Roo for the next couple of nights.
We drove to her house and swapped her a dinner of chicken marbella, risotto and vegetables for Teddy Roo. It was an exchange done with military precision. Sammie ensured that everything that we got from her was sanitised and Teddy Roo had a good clean and brush. She was going to leave Teddy's bag outside her door which I would retrieve and swap with a bag of food. After I knocked I stepped away from the door and Teddy Roo barrelled out of the door enthusiastically bowling me over. I saw her latex gloved hands disappear into the closed apartment and we took him home.
It was our first time with a puppy house guest and he was a dream guest. He is a fantastic walker (Teddy Elliott could probably learn something from him) and is so sweet and happy. The two Teddys really bring out the best in each other as they're a similar age and play style. It ended up being quite fortuitous as we had him just as a few days of rain started and the two boys amused each other perfectly. Even as they slept on the bed Teddy Roo took up the perfect amount of space and Teddy Elliott slept better at night as he relinquished guard dog duties to Teddy Roo who guarded us.
Sammie messaged me that they both really loved this chicken marbella and even David who was feeling poorly and doesn't usually like risotto really enjoyed it. She even compared it to a restaurant meal which was such a nice compliment.
So the motto of the story: always make double of this to give to friends, especially ones that might be in iso.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever heard of or tried Chicken Marbella? Are lots of your friends in ISO?