Food Is Good
I made one of my very favorite dinners tonight, one that I must share with you all. This, I can't take any credit for because this one I follow the recipe right to the letter, no cheating or improvising. The recipe is so perfect, there's honestly no point. But this is a fantastic recipe if you're ever having a dinner party. Because it looks *super fancy* when you set it on the table. And it's the easiest thing in the world...because you make it all the day before...
4 pieces of cleaned chicken (any pieces...tonight I used boneless skinless thighs)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup dried pitted prunes (or figs...or both)
1/4 cup Spanish olives (though I usually use Kalamata olives, because that's what I usually have)
1/4 cup capers with a little juice
2 Tbsp oregano
1/2 head garlic (yes, 1/2 *head*)
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp parsley
PAM a casserole dish and lay your chicken out in one layer. Pour everything else *EXCEPT THE WINE, BROWN SUGAR AND PARSLEY* over it and mix everything up so that the chicken is basically soaking in all that marinading goodness. Cover it tightly with saran and refrigerate overnight.
Fast forward to the next day...
Take it out of the fridge (ha!) Preheat the oven to 350. Add the wine and the brown sugar. (I get why you have to wait a day with the sugar, but don't really know the reason why with the wine. Thoughts?) Bake for an hour, turning the chicken at the halfway mark. (In the Silver Palate cookbook, it says to 'baste often', but you will see that this is probably unnecessary because whenever I make this, the chicken is totally submerged in the marinade.) You can broil it for the last five minutes.
Take it out of the oven, and sprinkle on the parsley and serve! You can move it to a serving platter if you like...but I don't. Who wants one more dish to clean.
4 pieces of cleaned chicken (any pieces...tonight I used boneless skinless thighs)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup dried pitted prunes (or figs...or both)
1/4 cup Spanish olives (though I usually use Kalamata olives, because that's what I usually have)
1/4 cup capers with a little juice
2 Tbsp oregano
1/2 head garlic (yes, 1/2 *head*)
3 bay leaves
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp parsley
PAM a casserole dish and lay your chicken out in one layer. Pour everything else *EXCEPT THE WINE, BROWN SUGAR AND PARSLEY* over it and mix everything up so that the chicken is basically soaking in all that marinading goodness. Cover it tightly with saran and refrigerate overnight.
Fast forward to the next day...
Take it out of the fridge (ha!) Preheat the oven to 350. Add the wine and the brown sugar. (I get why you have to wait a day with the sugar, but don't really know the reason why with the wine. Thoughts?) Bake for an hour, turning the chicken at the halfway mark. (In the Silver Palate cookbook, it says to 'baste often', but you will see that this is probably unnecessary because whenever I make this, the chicken is totally submerged in the marinade.) You can broil it for the last five minutes.
Take it out of the oven, and sprinkle on the parsley and serve! You can move it to a serving platter if you like...but I don't. Who wants one more dish to clean.