I bought a copy of the Silver Palate cookbook on one of my first trips to the USA many, many moons ago. It is a timeless classic. Over the years I cooked many dishes from it but never tried the legendary Chicken Marbella. It took Yotam Ottolenghi to bring it to my attention. His version, as included below, cuts down on the sugar, but is in most other ways very true to the original. I made it for the first time the other night, it was absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy to make The recipe This chicken Marbella is a dish I regularly cook for friends. All the work is done in advance – you can marinate it for up to 2 days in the fridge – and then it’s just into the baking tray and into the oven when you’re ready. The chicken loves the long marination but it can also be cooked straight away, if you don’t have the time. If you’re going to do this, just season the chicken with the teaspoon of salt and pepper (which would otherwise go into the marinade), rub it thoroughly into the sk
This recipe is like one of those ingredient tests on Masterchef. What could I make without buying anything from the supermarket, the greengrocer the butcher or even from the garage. I realise that I have a pretty well stocked store cupboard but even so I stuck to the ‘use nothing new’ mantra. My principal inspiration was this recipe but i amended it a bit to fit with a few thoughts I had plus a desire to use the stuff I had in the fridge. Ingredients 35g dried porcini mushrooms 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 300 - 400g spicy Italian sausage casings removed 1 large onion thinly sliced into half moons 3 Tbsp unsalted butter 3 large garlic cloves finely chopped 250g shiitake mixed woodland mushrooms, cleaned, and thinly sliced or finely chopped 1 cup dry red wine 2 Tbsp tomato paste 400g tin crushed tomatoes 1 tbs dried oregano ½ tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp salt ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper ½ cup water 1 - 2 tbs mascarpone grated Parmigiano Reggiano for serving pasta for serving Method