Chicken (or Tofu) Marbella
I fell in love with Robyn Youkilis after stumbling onto her instagram feed. Her mindfulness mixed with nutrition based in digestive health has inspired several meals for my family. I ended up buying her book Thin from Within to learn more about fermenting foods and finding a place for them in my daily routine. We adapted this recipe from her book and it has become an instant family favorite. I love it because you mix everything together and marinate it overnight or while you’re at work and then throw it in the oven. Fantastic!
She mentions in her book that it was a dish her Mom made for them from a favorite cookbook. So I looked into the history and was shocked to find out this isn’t some ancient Mediterranean recipe steeped in Greek or Spanish culture. It is a Jewish-American dish invented on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1970’s. Sheila Lukins had a catering business that was centered around delivering dinner to single men and created an empire around the concept, named the Silver Palate with business partner, Julee Rosso.
Their cookbook The Silver Palate was a smashing success and turned her Chicken Marbella recipe into a popular Shabbat and Passover Seder dinner across America. Her version uses four chickens and an entire cup of brown sugar so many people have adapted the original to make it both smaller and healthier. I like Robyn’s version which includes an adaptation using Tofu, which makes a delicious lighter meal whether you’re vegetarian or not. I mostly adapted this recipe to use what we have on hand, since we rarely have prunes in the house, along with some other small tweeks. Enjoy!
Chicken (Or Tofu) Marbella
Prep: 10 mins plus 8+hour marinating Cook: 1 1/2 hours Servings: About 8
1 or 2 Chickens broken down or two packs of your favorite cuts of chicken ~ breast, thighs, legs
OR sub two packs of firm tofu ~ drained, sliced thick and pressed to expel extra moisture
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar ~ apple cider or red wine vinegar work best
1/2 cup of raisins ~ the original recipe calls for prunes. Diced, dried apricots are delicious too.
1/4 cup of green olives
1/4 cup of capers
a whole head of garlic ~ smashed or minced.
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons of thyme ~ original recipe uses oregano but I prefer thyme
1 teaspoon salt
dash of black pepper
2 tablespoons of sugar - brown or coconut
1/2 cup of dry white wine - you can substitute red wine if you have a bottle already open
rice - for serving (optional)
Combine everything except the sugar and wine and let the flavors marinate 8 hours or overnight.
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 350 degrees and place chicken (or tofu) and marinade into a roasting dish. Sprinkle with sugar and pour wine on top.
Roast somewhere between 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on the thickness of the protein. We love to serve this dish over rice to soak up the marinade and we have also used cauliflower rice with great success.
