1982 called and wants its chicken back… Chicken Marbella, to be exact. If you kids ever wondered how your forebears dinner-partied hard, look no further than this tasty relic from the beloved classic, The Silver Palate Cookbook. Where pan-Mediterranean and Asian flavours co-mingled in an era when Posh French, and posh French only, was considered the absolute acme. Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins’ tome (it’s 480 pages) challenged that supremacy; emanating from their New York deli, it’s credited with changing the way people at that time cooked. Amazingly, the book is still in print.

Back in the day, Chicken Marbella was considered the height of sophistication and yum. Everyone cooked it for their guests. We revisited chicken marbella during lockdown when we were absolutely bored shitless and retro cooking had a certain allure. We discovered it to be exactly as we remembered; a glorious mess of vinegar, brown sugar, prunes, capers, olives and chicken and, as unlikely as this combination sounds, the end result is scrumptious. You literally dump your whole, cut-up chicken, with all the flavourings and marinating bits, into a large bowl, leave it overnight to mingle in the fridge, then cook it off in a big oven dish. Easy. The one issue we had was the olive oil in the marinating mix; made a greasy slick on the surface and as chicken parts produce their own fat, the whole thing ended up too oily. So we’ve removed that oil and turned the dish into more of a simmered/braised arrangement. Try chicken marbella if you haven’t already, closing your eyes while you do and recalling the soundtrack of the early 80s. It really was another time.

SERVES 4-6

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, approximately

2 onions, peeled and very finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed or very finely chopped

4 chicken marylands, cut in half through the leg joint and trimmed

Plain flour, for dusting

375ml (1½ cup) red wine

330ml (1⅓ cups chicken stock

110g (½ cup) drained, pitted green olives

150g (⅔ cup) pitted prunes

3 tbsp capers drained 

80ml (⅓ cup) red wine vinegar

60g (¼ cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

1 cinnamon stick

small handful fresh oregano, bruised

rocket salad and roast potatoes, to serve

Preheat the oven to 175˚C.

Heat half the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in a large casserole or heavy based saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and a large pinch of salt, then cook, stirring often, for 8 minutes or until completely softened. Remove the pan from the heat.

Meanwhile, dust the chicken in flour, shaking off any excess. Heat the remaining oil in a very large, deep sauté pan with a lid over medium heat. Cook the chicken, seasoning it with salt and pepper, for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden. Remove to a large bowl. Pour any excess fat from the frying pan, then add the wine and bring to the boil, stirring to scrape any stuck on bits from the base of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes to reduce the wine a little, then return the chicken to the pan, skin side up. Add the chicken stock, olives, prunes, capers, red wine vinegar, sugar, cinnamon and onion mixture to the pan, then bring to a simmer. The chicken should be about half covered; add more chicken stock if necessary. 

Cover the pan with the lid, then transfer to the oven. Cook for 1 hour or until the chicken is very tender. Use a metal spoon to skim as much fat from the surface as possible. Serve the chicken scattered with oregano, with rocket salad and roast potatoes (or with whatever you darn well like, really).