Roast chicken with dates, olives and capers

Main Easy

Serves 4

The Silver Palate, by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, is one of the best cookbooks I know and a classic of the 1980s, listing recipes from the first modern quality take-out food shop in New York. Many of the dishes in the book have become legendary. One of them, Chicken Marbella, is the inspiration for this recipe. The chicken needs marinading for at least a day, preferably two, to soften and flavour properly; I wouldn't cut corners here.

Ingredients

8	chicken legs, drumstick and thigh attached, skin on (2kg net)
5	garlic cloves, crushed
15g	fresh oregano, torn, plus extra for garnish
3 tbsp	red wine vinegar
3 tbsp	olive oil
100g	pitted green olives
60g	capers, plus 2 tbsp of their juices
70g	pitted and quartered lengthways medjoul dates
2	bay leaves
120ml	dry white wine
1 tbsp	date syrup or treacle
	salt and black pepper

Method

Place the chicken in a large, non-reactive bowl and add all of the ingredients, apart from the wine and date molasses, along with ¾ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper. Gently mix everything together, cover the bowl and leave in the fridge to marinate for 1 to 2 days, stirring the ingredients a few times during the process.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Spread out the chicken legs on a large baking tray, along with all the marinade ingredients. Whisk together the wine and molasses and pour over the meat. Place in the oven and cook for 50 minutes, basting 2 or 3 times, until the meat is golden brown on top and cooked through.
Remove from the oven, transfer everything to a large platter, sprinkle over some freshly picked oregano leaves and serve.