It’s a great meal to serve for a dinner party and everyone will be impressed! Other easy and reader favorite chicken dinners to impress: Mediterranean Chicken and Rice, Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts, and this Pesto Gnocchi with Chicken. This post has been sponsored by The California Prune Board. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep Kroll’s Korner running! Chicken Marbella became a classic dish when the talented chefs, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, published it in the Silver Palate Cookbook in 1982. I think what was so revolutionary 40 years ago, and what continues to work so well today, is these women took recipes that at first glance might take all day to make, but made them easy weeknight meals that would work just as well for glamorous dinner parties. Prunes are at the heart of the marinade that makes this classic dish so impressive. Their sticky sweetness mixes perfectly with aromatic garlic, bay leaves, meaty green olives, briney capers, red wine vinegar and fresh oregano to create a complex savory sauce that is perfectly balanced between sweet and sour. The key is the amount of time you let the chicken soak up these amazingly bold flavors. Mix up the marinade, toss in the chicken thighs, and if left overnight, you will have the most tender, moist and flavorful chicken you have ever eaten.
California prunes: thanks to their natural sweetness, prunes work really well in this chicken marinade. Their texture also provides a wonderful body and a delicious spin on a savory meal. Chicken thighs: I like using skin on, bone in chicken thighs for ease and convenience but you can also use a whole chicken that has been cut up. Garlic: Smashing or crushing the garlic clove makes the garlic flavor a little stronger since you are releasing the sulfur compounds by smashing the cloves. Fresh oregano leaves: Fresh oregano has a sharper and more peppery flavor than dried oregano. If you don’t have any fresh, use 2 Tbsp. dried. Red wine vinegar: the vinegar plays an important role not only in imparting flavor to the chicken but the acid helps to tenderize the chicken as well. Olive oil: be sure to use a good olive oil for the base of the marinade. Pitted green olives and capers with their brine: these two ingredients contribute to the briny marinade. Trust me, the combination is unique but the results are drool-worthy! Bay leaves: fresh or dried bay, both work well. Be sure to remove and discard the bay before plating and serving the chicken.
