Chicken Marbella

Our neighbour, Olivia, frequently invites us over for dinner when certain dishes are on the menu. One of our favourite dishes is her Chicken Marbella. It's a dish I have yet to make myself because, for some reason, I can stand in front of the stove and stir a pot for an hour, but I can't bring myself to baste something in the oven. I've got to get over that.

In the meantime, Olivia was generous enough to share her recipe, based on the recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook, and allow me to take photos. The dish pictured didn't have cilantro as a garnish because there was an in-house shortage.

There's something about the flavours in this dish that make it irresistible. I think it's the sweet and savoury combination of flavour - it's amazing. I always use extra sauce to help mop up the rice. So tasty.

Chicken Marbella

2 tbsp garlic puree
2 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup pitted prunes
8 large olives, pitted and cut in half
1/4 cup capers (retain some of the juice)
3 bay leaves
2 kilos chicken legs and/or thighs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white wine
4 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

1. In a large bowl, whisk together garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, olives, capers with caper juice, and bay leaves.
2. Add the chicken and coat completely with the marinade (tip: you can put the chicken and marinade into a large zipper bag). Cover and refrigerate, for several hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350-degrees. In a large roasting pan (or two smaller pans), arrange chicken in a single layer and spread remaining marinade over evenly.
4. Sprinkle chicken with brown sugar. Pour white wine around the chicken, being careful to not wash the sugar and marinade off the chicken.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes basting frequently. Note: use a meat thermometer to check chicken or check for clear juice (not pink) when testing using a fork.
6. Transfer chicken and marinade to a deep serving dish and garnish with cilantro.
7. Adapted from the Silver Palate Cookbook.

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Secret Recipe Club: Mushrooms and Potato Stew

No Wednesday post this week because I joined the secret recipe club. The secret recipe club assigns you a member blog and you choose a recipe from that blog to make. You're not obligated to stick to the exact recipe, but instead, you can adapt it to your own taste or style.

I was assigned Cook Book of Trial and Error, by The Cooking Rookie. There were a lot of unfamiliar recipes and methods to choose from. Wanting to play relatively safe the first time through, I chose a potato and mushroom stew. It calls for the stew to be cooked in the oven, in a dutch oven - I've never done that before. My first throught was "I really hope my Jamie Oliver pot comes out in one piece!"

The recipe itself, named Chanterelles and Potato Stew called for chanterelle mushrooms, some chicken stock and a tablespoon of brandy. Since the recipe is from a site that emphasizes trial and error, I'm hoping that I'm forgiven for the liberties I took with it.

First, I couldn't find chanterelles, so I bought some portabella mushroom instead (and a good helping of white mushrooms as well). I also didn't have any brandy, but I did have some wine left from the previous evening and a bit of brown sugar to sweeten it up.

The one mistake I made was the time I chose to start cooking - we ended up eating about an hour later than planned.

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Mushrooms and Potato Stew

by Daniel Saraga June-13-2011

This stew, inspired by the The Cooking Rookie, uses mushrooms and white wine for a tasty vegetarian bowl of comfort.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 300g portabella mushrooms, chopped
• 450g white mushrooms, chopped
• 1.3 kilos potatoes, diced to 1/2 inch
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup white wine (or rice wine for gluten-free)
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees.2. In a dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat and saute onions until translucent and they start to brown.3. Add garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes. 4. Add mushrooms and saute for 5 minutes.5. Add potatoes, butter, wine, brown sugar, salt and pepper, stir and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.6. Remove from heat, stir, cover and transfer to oven. Bake for 90 minutes.Note: in the event that you don't have an oven-proof pot, The Cooking Rookie recommends reducing the heat to medium-low, covering and stirring every 20-30 minutes. The potatoes with be a little mushed, but it will taste the same.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 2 hour Total time: 2 hour 20 mins Yield: 4-6 servings

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The Hearth and Soul Blog Hop

Sephardic Charoset

The day before the first Seder, I realized that my father wasn't going to be bringing charoset like he usually does. Usually, he picks some up from his synagogue. It comes in little balls and immediately before serving, wine is added and it's mashed up.

In researching Sephardic charoset recipes, I found that there were a few basic requirements: dried fruit, nuts, fragrant spices, one fresh fruit to get it to all stick together. One recipe used bananas instead of apples and I liked that idea, so I looked around the pantry, found the spices and dried fruit on hand and arrived at one of the tastiest charosets I've ever had.

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Sephardic Charoset

by Daniel Saraga April 19, 2011

This charoset is symbolic of the mortar used by the Israelite slaves to build in Egypt.

Ingredients

3/4 cup walnuts3/4 cup almonds1 tsp cinnamon, ground1 tbsp garam masala1/2 tsp ginger, ground1 tsp nutmeg, ground1 tsp cloves30 dates, pitted2 bananas, mashed1/2 cup golden raisins1/4 cup sweet red wine (e.g., Manischewitz, or use rice wine for gluten-free)

Instructions

1. Grind the walnuts, almonds, cinnamon, garam masala, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a food processor.2. Add dates, banana, raisins and honey, and puree and refrigerate until ready to serve.3. Before serving, slowly add wine until desired consistency is reached.Note: Charoset should be a thick paste, like a mortar.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour Cook time: Total time: 1 hourYield: 2 cups

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Marinara Sauce

This basic marinara sauce can be added to ground meat, vegetables, lasagna or meatballs.

With some leftover white wine from a big dinner, I was itching to make a marinara with wine. The bonus day off work (Family Day in Ontario) gave me the opportunity to prepare a meal in advance for later in the week.

I managed to find some turkey meatballs at the grocery store so there was no doubt about what I'd be making, until Meredith put the kybosh on spaghetti for dinner (she says it's a taste thing, I think it's Itironophobia (fear of spaghetti). So meatball marinara with penne it is!

Marinara Sauce

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 28oz can tomatoes
• 1 5-1/2 oz can tomato paste

1. Heat olive oil on medium and fry onions and garlic until translucent.
2. Add basil, oregano, thyme, pepper and salt and mix for one minute.
3. Add wine and stir for another minute.
4. Add tomatoes and tomato paste, stir and let simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Puree with a hand blender.

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Jamaican Brown Stew with Chicken

During christmas we were given a nice dry red wine from a friend. In fact, it was homemade by our good friend Jayne.

After a nice new year's dinner we had a tiny bit leftover, so I started searching for what do do with it*. I ended up choosing a curry-stew that called for 1/4 cup of red. I think I actually used around 1/2 cup in the end. I also switched the method around from the original recipe, browning the chicken first and adding some boiled potatoes near the end.

*I've been told to never cook with a wine you wouldn't consider drinking, so I didn't think that the wine wasn't fit for a glass.

Jamaican Brown Stew with Chicken

• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup onion (chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
• 4 potatoes, boiled and diced

1. Combine chicken, curry powder, thyme, garam masala, red pepper flakes and black pepper (chicken through black pepper) in a bowl. 
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in over medium-high heat in a wide pot.
3. Brown chicken for 3-5 minutes and set aside.
4. Add 1 tbsp oil, onions and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes, scraping up flavours from the chicken and spices.
5. Add chicken mixture, wine, beans and tomatoes.
6. Cover, reduce heat and simmer (stirring occasionally) for 20 minutes.
7. Add potatoes and continue simmering until mixture thickens and chicken is tender.

(inspired by RecipeZaar's Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken)

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