Julie Chicken

My Mother always cooked – always.  We would go out to eat occasionally but for the most part my Mom always cooked.  After I was married and would come home she would cook one of her terrific meals – all the time.  All three of us Light children have our favorites – Allen loved her peanut butter fudge, Larry liked the hot dogs, and I love her yankee pot roast..and we ALL loved her cabbage rolls and HATED her beef stew! 

I get it. 

Nothing gives me greater pleasure then to see my little hares and my big hare enjoying a meal I cooked.  I am always looking for new recipes to try out on my family, they are usually game to try something new.

When my Mother passed away my sister-in-law Leelee and my Momma Nancy made sure my family had plenty to eat and drink.  So much so we ended up donating some it and throwing the rest away.  Then when my Daddy died 10 months later Leelee and Nancy were ready to fix us up again but I declined the offer.  Everyone was going home after the funeral and it would just be my family.  My sweet friend Julie Sims called Randy and wanted to bring food, Randy told her that I said it would not be necessary.  I am so glad NO ONE listens to me because Randy would later text Julie and said YES – bring some food.

Julie and her beautiful daughters brought us a wonderful homemade meal.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was, grief will apparently make you forget to eat, it was such a great meal.  Especially the chicken.  Later that night I would call to thank Julie and ask her for the recipe for the chicken dish.  I finally got the recipe for Chicken Marbella and made it two weeks ago for the first time.  Randy loves it so much he wants it at least once a week.  We don’t call it Chicken Marbella – it’s Julie Chicken in our house.

I would have NEVER tried this recipe on my own.  It has both green and black olives, red wine vinegar, white wine and…prunes – all together!  It is so yummy.  If you want to try something new I highly encourage you to try Julie Chicken Marbella.

· 6 – 8 Chicken Breasts

· ½ Tbsp of garlic, peeled and finely puréed

· Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

· 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

· 1/4 cup olive oil

· 1 cup pitted prunes

· 1 jar of pitted Spanish green olives, cut in half

· 2 cans of sliced black olives

· 1/4 cup capers with a bit of juice

· 3 bay leaves

· 1/4 cup brown sugar

· 1/2 cup white wine

· 2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

Method

1 In a large bowl combine garlic, salt and pepper to taste, vinegar, olive oil, prunes, both olives, and capers with caper juice. Add the chicken pieces and coat completely with the marinade. (I use my large glass Pyrex casserole with lid) Cover and let marinate, refrigerated, overnight – 48 hours is the best!

2 Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange chicken in a single layer in one or two large, shallow baking pans and spoon marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle brown sugar over the chicken pieces and pour white wine around them.

3 Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, basting frequently with the pan juices (I don’t do this – I ignore it!). Chicken is done when a sharp knife inserted into the thigh pieces, at their thickest point, run with clear yellow juices (not pink). The last ten minutes I change the oven the broil so the brown sugar adds a crisp to the chicken.

4 With a slotted spoon, move the chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Pour some of the pan juices over the chicken and sprinkle generously with parsley. Serve remaining juices in a gravy boat.

Serve it over Uncle Ben’s wild long grain rice!