Saturday, January 23, 2010

from the Silver Palate

I've found that if you're looking for a recipe, just plug your desired ingredients into Google and suitable recipes will magically appear.

I had been craving something kind of exotic so I initially started out with a Spanish cookbook and a hankering for lamb. But, dammit, lamb was too expensive - I needed to explore other options. I flipped through the cookbook and saw a lot of dishes that combined fruit, meat, and savory spices. Unfortunately, all the recipes were a little insane - hours of prep and cooking and ingredient lists that covered a page and a half. I think not. So, quick! To Google!

The recipe I ended up finding for my "taste something new every week" resolution was Chicken Marbella. With slow roasted chicken, green olives and prunes, each bite is a unique, unforgettable combination of salty sweet umami. It really puts your tastebuds to work.

I substituted white balsamic for the red wine vinegar and omitted the capers because it was already after 10 PM on a weeknight when I was making the marinade and didn't want to make a second trip to the store. I plopped the marinade and some boneless, skinless chicken thighs (they are cheaper, more flavorful and have the nicest texture) in a big ziploc bag to steep. The next evening, I dumped the whole mess into a baking dish, poured in some white wine, sprinkled it all with some brown sugar and baked. That's it. Simple to prepare, fancy enough for guests - like a culinary sleight of hand.

I completely forgot to top the finished dish with chopped parsely because we were so hungry from smelling the delicious odors emanating from the oven that by the time it got to the table we were lucky to have remembered to use utensils at all.

7 comments:

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

nom

GuardDuck said...

What else you got on the plate there?

Old NFO said...

Looks good, but PRUNES???? :-)

Smart Dogs said...

Google has mostly replaced my cookbooks. We have a small flock of laying hens in our back yard (to be joined by meatbirds come spring). We've also got a couple of lambs and half a pig in the freezer that were raised up the road by friends. Add a bunch of produce from the garden and I've got piles of yummy ingredients that I'm not always sure how to use.

Googling a list of ingredients and the word 'recipe' is the answer - and I've found a lot of wonderful, unexpected things like ham and pumpkin quiche and polenta with kale and eggs - that have become regular menu items here.

Nom.

Ed Rasimus said...

I found Chicken Marbella in Silver Palate about 15 years ago. Used to make a big batch to take to deer hunting camp along with a kettle of chili...and lots of beer. It's still a keeper.

zdogk9 said...

Next time be sure an put in the capers, they really make it work. Old NFO, yes prunes.

GuardDuck said...

Made this last night. A whole chicken quartered and marinated the night before. Forgot the parsely as well.

Was delicious and looked good on the platter too - not a normal occurrence when I cook.