Persian Roast Chicken

 Roast Chicken is one of the easiest things in the world to make and cooks pretty fast if you use chicken pieces, instead of the whole chicken and even faster is you use boneless pieces.  For optimal flavor, marinate overnight and then stick it in the oven and 35 minutes later, you have dinner.  The key to really delicious Roast Chicken is to have a fabulous marinade. I have been consulting my vast cookbook collection for inspiration for great marinades.

A few weeks ago, I did an Indian Roast Chicken, using Madhur Jaffrey's recipe.  This week it's Persian Chicken, using Ana Sortun's spice mix from the cookbook, Spice.  Ms. Sortun is chef/owner of Boston's Oleana Restaurant.  She specializes in foods of the Eastern Mediterranean (Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon).

Persian Roast Chicken

Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
3 lbs. chicken pieces
3 tablespoons dried rose petals, ground
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons non-fat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Combine all ingredients except the chicken, olive oil, yogurt, water and salt in a bowl and mix well.
In a large bowl, combine yogurt, olive oil and salt.  Add the spice mix and mix well.
Add chicken pieces and toss well so that the chicken pieces are well coated with the marinade.

Transfer to a shallow dish and put in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. (overnight is best).
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Spray a shallow casserole dish with non stick spray.  Place chicken pieces in dish and bake for 30 minutes. Transfer to the broiler part of the oven and cook on high for 5 minutes.

Serve with Persian Spinach Polow.

...linking to Healthy Appetite & Julie's Herbs & Spices hosted by me

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