Eunice Power: Quick and easy Marbella chicken ticks every box for flavours and sweetness

Eunice Power shares her surprisingly economical Marbella Chicken recipe

Eunice Power: Marbella Chicken served with broccoli and roast potatoes. Picture: Chani Anderson

This week's recipe is a big favourite of mine, Marbella chicken. It’s been on my radar for years, since I first came across it in The Silver Palate Cookbook, an American cookbook that came out in the eighties and was quite revolutionary for its time.

But it was last year that I really fell back in love with it. I was listening to mother and daughter duo Jessie and Lennie Ware’s podcast, Table Manners, where they invite chefs and celebrities for lunch, and had Ruthie Rogers from The River Cafe on as a guest.

They cooked her Marbella chicken, and she loved it which sent me straight back to the dish myself. Honestly, if you’d been invited to dinner at my house this time last year, you were guaranteed to be served this. It ticks every box for the flavours I love, sweetness from the prunes, sourness from the capers and olives and, I hasten to add, it is quick and easy!

I use Pedro Ximénez sherry vinegar in this dish, which comes from The Real Olive Company. It has a lovely mellow flavour. I buy it in Cass & Co in Dungarvan, though it’s widely available at good retailers around the country. You can use a wine vinegar if this is not available.

For the chicken, I use thighs, skin on and bone in. They’re reasonably priced, infact this whole dish is genuinely economical, tasty and quick to put together. I usually pop everything into a Ziplock bag the night before and leave it to marinate in the fridge, then just tip it onto a roasting tin the next day when I need it.

On the side ….I’m a big fan of broccoli rather than the increasing popular Tenderstem, I feel it has more character to it, in particular I love the stem; it has such lovely flavour and texture. I trim just a small bit off the end of the stem, then cut the head down the centre lengthways so I end up with six or eight wedges, stem and floret together.

Blanch these in boiling water, then either drain and serve straight away with olive oil, salt and pepper, or refresh under cold water to keep that bright green colour and pan-fry them in olive oil with salt and pepper and slivers of garlic. Either way works, just use every bit of it.

A little tip on broccoli: if yours is looking a little sad having been in your fridge for a day or two, trim the end and put it in a bowl and give it a good drink of cold water: it will perk up, regain that fresh-faced look and be ready for action in no time!

Marbella Chicken

recipe by:Eunice Power

I serve this dish with crushed potatoes and a preserved lemon dressing. If you can’t get hold of preserved lemons, lemon rind works fine, though preserved lemons are much easier to find now than they were three or four years ago and add an interesting fla

Servings

4

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken thighs, trimmed with any loose skin removed

• 2 tbsp dried oregano

• A generous pinch of sea salt and black pepper

• ¼ cup olive oil

• ½ cup Pedro Ximénez vinegar

• 1 cup dry white wine (red is fine too, whatever you have open)

• A large handful of pitted prunes

• A large handful of green olives

• 2  tbsp capers

• 3 bay leaves

• 1 heaped tbsp brown sugar

• To serve

• Broccoli, blanched and pan-fried

Method

1. Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl or a Ziplock bag. Add the oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, sherry vinegar, white wine, prunes, olives, capers, bay leaves, and brown sugar.

2. Mix well so the chicken is fully coated. Cover and leave to marinate for about one hour or overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. Transfer everything into a roasting dish, making sure the chicken is skin side up sprinkle a little Maldon sea salt on the chicken skin.

5. Cook for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160°C and continue cooking for 30 minutes. Baste once during cooking.

6. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Roast Baby Potatoes with Preserved Lemon Dressing & Feta

recipe by:Eunice Power

Eunice Power shares her recipe for Roast baby potatoes with a zingy preserved lemon dressing and feta cheese

Servings

4

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 600g baby potatoes

• 100g feta cheese, roughly crumbled

• Chopped parsley, to finish

• For the preserved lemon dressing

• 2 small preserved lemons

• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

• A squeeze of lemon juice

• 1 tbsp honey

• 75ml olive oil

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Handful of parsley, chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

2. Place the baby potatoes in a roasting tin and roast them whole, in their skins, for about 30 minutes, until cooked through and the skins are lovely and crisp.

3. Meanwhile, make the preserved lemon dressing. Discard the flesh from the preserved lemons and finely dice the rind.

4. Whisk together the white winevinegar, lemon juice, honey, and extra-virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then stir through the diced preserved lemon rind and chopped parsley.

5. Taste and adjust the seasoning, looking for a good sweet-and-sour balance.

6. Remove the potatoes from the oven and allow them to cool just enough to handle. Using the back of a spoon or a fork, gently crush each potato so that it breaks open while still holdingtogether.

7. Toss the crushed potatoes with enough of the preserved lemondressing to coat them well.

8. Return the dressed potatoes to the oven and roast for a further 15minutes.

9. Scatter the crumbled feta over the potatoes and return to the oven for another 5 minutes, until the feta has warmed and the potatoes are crisp and golden.

10. Remove from the oven, sprinkle generously with chopped parsley, and serve.