Yottam Ottolenghi’s newest cookbook Simple has some great recipes but sometimes not so simple in terms of quickly getting some of the specialist ingredients which might not be in your pantry.
However I have found that they are simple enough to understand the flavours being created and to play around with them using ingredients on hand to still create delicious meals.
For example his chicken marabella recipe calls for date molasses and dates….I substituted dried apricots and pomegranate molasses which I had in the cupboard which worked well.
The chicken can be marinated overnight to develop the flavours more and or just for 15 minutes.
The quantities can also easily be adapted if you are cooking for more than 2…or if you want to serve as part of a buffet shared style meal.
Prep time: 10 minutes Marinating time(optional): 15 mins-12hrs
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
2 chicken Marylands skin on (thigh and drumstick still joined)
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of fresh picked oregano leaves
2 tbspoons red wine vinegar
2 tbspoons olive oil
50g pitted green olives
2 teaspoons capers and 1 tbspoon of their juice
3 tbspoons chopped dried apricots (about 100g)
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup white wine
Salt and black pepper
Oregano leaves to garnish
Method
1. Score each piece of chicken 3 or 4 times to the bone.
2. Place in a bowl and add all the ingredients except the wine and molasses and gently mix along with 1/2 teaspoon salt and a grind of black pepper
3. Marinate for as long as you can …overnight if possible but not essential
4. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius in fan forced oven
5. Spread the chicken on a high sided snug baking dish that allows the marinade to surround chicken. Whisk together the wine and molasses and pour over chicken. (I lined my baking dish with baking paper to prevent the marinade from creating too much of a mess to clean up!)
6. Cook chicken in oven for 45 minutes, basting a few times through cooking process. You want the chicken to get golden brown and be cooked until juices run clear.
7. Sprinkle generously with fresh oregano leaves to garnish.
Serve with salad and accompaniments of your choice, goes well with cous cous lr with crusty bread as the sauce created with the marinade and chicken juices is delicious.
Serves 2