Chicken Marbella

I recently tried out a slow cooker recipe I snagged out of Woman's Day for chicken marbella.  It was really easy and an interesting combination of flavors.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, though I did make a couple minor adjustments and discovered a couple things I'd do the next time I make it.

I apologize for some of the lower quality photos.  The light in my kitchen was a little off the day I made this.

The recipe calls for prunes, green olives, capers, garlic, fresh parsley, brown sugar, white wine, red wine vinegar, oregano, and chicken legs (thighs and drumsticks), separated into pieces.  I decided to use both white and dark meat, as not everyone who was partaking in this meal particularly cared for dark meat.

I started by cutting the prunes in half and removing the pits.

I then cut my green olives in half.  I got these from the salad bar station at the grocery store (you know, the one often found in the deli section) rather than going with jarred olives, as they just looked delicious.

Then I smashed my garlic. It's always such fun to smash garlic.  Though, you know, I really ought to invest in a garlic press....

I whisked the brown sugar, white wine, vinegar, and oregano together in the bottom of my slow cooker.

Then I cracked in some fresh pepper and sprinkled in some salt.

I tossed the prunes, olives, garlic and capers into the slow cooker and mixed to coat them well with the liquids and seasonings.

I removed the skins from my chicken pieces (not the cleanest or easiest process when it comes to the legs) and nestled them in among the prunes and olives as best I could.

The directions suggest cooking on low for 6 hours, but that's actually one of the high settings on my slow cooker.  So I set the timer for 8 hours.  I ended up serving after 7 hours, as everything was done.  The chicken was falling off the bones.

Anyway, during the last twenty minutes or so of cooking, I cooked up some jasmine rice according to package directions and chopped up some flat-leafed parsley.  This I added to the slow cooker just before serving.

Serve it over the rice, and there you go!

As I said, the chicken was just falling off the bones, which made it rather difficult to serve (people were getting bones rather than meat), so I might try this with boneless pieces next time and maybe add a little bit of chicken broth, as I'm sure the bones assist in creating the cooking juices that are oh so yummy.  Also, the prunes literally disintegrated, so I think I would add them later in the cooking process, hoping they'll retain their shape better with less cooking time.

In any case, it was easy and made the house smell delicious.