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Garlicky Spiced Chicken and Potato Traybake with Pomegranate Molasses
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This meal-in-one is our adaptation of a recipe in “The Palestinian Table” by Reem Kassis, which she prepared for us on a recent trip to Galilee. In lieu of seasoning the chicken and potatoes with the Kassis family’s nine-spice blend, we make a simpler mixture from a few select ground spices. And to make a simple but flavorful sauce, we roast a handful of garlic cloves with the chicken and potatoes, then mash the softened cloves directly on the pan before deglazing with water. Dark, syrupy pomegranate molasses has a fruity, floral, tart-sweet taste that complements the fragrant spices and as well as the caramelization that results from roasting. Look for it in the international aisle of the supermarket or in Middle Eastern grocery stores. If not available, substitute with 1 teaspoon each lemon juice and honey in the seasoning mixture and serve with lemon wedges.
4
Servings
Tip
Don’t use boneless, skinless chicken parts, as they will overcook. Also, make sure to put the garlic cloves at the center of the baking sheet, where they’re protected from the oven’s high heat, so they don’t wind up scorched.
1 hour 10 minutes
20 minutes active
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (see note), plus more to serve
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
3 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts, trimmed and patted dry
1½ pounds medium to large red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1½-inch-thick wedges
8 medium garlic cloves, peeled
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, to serve
Ingredients
-
¼
-
2
teaspoons pomegranate molasses (see note), plus more to serve
-
1
tablespoon ground allspice
-
1
teaspoon ground coriander
-
¾
teaspoon ground cinnamon
-
⅛
teaspoon ground cardamom
-
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
-
3
pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken parts, trimmed and patted dry
-
1½
pounds medium to large red potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1½-inch-thick wedges
-
8
medium garlic cloves, peeled
-
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, to serve
Directions
-
01In a large bowl, stir together the oil, molasses, allspice, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, 2 teaspoons salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the chicken and potatoes, then toss to coat. Set aside at room temperature while the oven heats.
-
02Heat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the middle position. Place the garlic cloves in the center of a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange the chicken parts, skin up, around the garlic; this prevents the garlic from scorching during roasting. Arrange the potatoes evenly around the chicken.
-
03Roast until the thickest part of the breast (if using) reaches about 160°F and the thickest part of the largest thigh/leg (if using) reaches about 175°F, 30 to 40 minutes.
-
04Using tongs, transfer the chicken and potatoes to a platter, leaving the garlic on the baking sheet. With a fork, mash the garlic until relatively smooth. Carefully pour ¼ cup water onto the baking sheet, then use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper, then pour over the chicken and potatoes. Drizzle with additional pomegranate molasses and sprinkle with parsley.
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Reviews
January 16, 2023
Good recipe
Made it multiple times
May 29, 2022
Terrific recipe
I’ve made it about 6 times. I do reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees. It’s a keeper
I found (below) the recipe for the spice blend. How much of it do you use in the recipe? Thx. Also... I really appreciate the uniqueness and flavor of Milk Street recipes.
I love the spices in this, but the first time I made it and followed directions the chicken came out too charred. I reduced the heat to 425 and it was a bit better, but I’m thinking this recipe needs some tweaking. My oven is calibrated correctly and I’m wondering how to make it work.
Don't know if this applies but I have an older oven with exposed elements so I usually reduce heats >400F by 25-50F. The oven is correctly calibrated but seems to heat up more often than newer ovens to maintain correct temps, & the burners get significantly hotter than the target heat, causing burning. For this recipe I'll go with a 400F oven & check chicken at 40 mins. Happy cooking to you!
I just put in a new oven that has the option of convention oven. I’ll admit I’m lost. Every time I use it it cooks way to fast. What time would you suggest I use for this recipe or would you just use the bake setting not using the convention.
Hi CJ S, Maybe you’ve already figured those out, however, and I’m not at all try to be arrogant or “ms know it all”... I believe you mentioned you have a new oven, and if you look at the options, it actually says conveCtion... when you choose this option, it has a fan in the back which causes the heat to move faster, thus heat faster, ultimately, cooking faster to save time (something like that). There are recipes out there to use Convection Ovens. Like others on the string have mentioned, your “bake” option is just your “plain ‘ol oven”... took me a little reading to figure out mine...
Hi CJ S, Maybe you’ve already figured those out, however, and I’m not at all try to be arrogant or “ms know it all”... I believe you mentioned you have a new oven, and if you look at the options, it actually says conveCtion... when you choose this option, it has a fan in the back which causes the heat to move faster, thus heat faster, ultimately, cooking faster to save time (something like that). There are recipes out there to use Convection Ovens. Like others on the string have mentioned, your “bake” option is just your “plain ‘ol oven”... took me a little reading to figure out mine...
I just put in a new oven that has the option of convention oven. I’ll admit I’m lost. Every time I use it it cooks way to fast. What time would you suggest I use for this recipe or would you just use the bake setting not using the convention.
Hi CJ S, Maybe you’ve already figured those out, however, and I’m not at all try to be arrogant or “ms know it all”... I believe you mentioned you have a new oven, and if you look at the options, it actually says conveCtion... when you choose this option, it has a fan in the back which causes the heat to move faster, thus heat faster, ultimately, cooking faster to save time (something like that). There are recipes out there to use Convection Ovens. Like others on the string have mentioned, your “bake” option is just your “plain ‘ol oven”... took me a little reading to figure out mine...
Hi CJ S, Maybe you’ve already figured those out, however, and I’m not at all try to be arrogant or “ms know it all”... I believe you mentioned you have a new oven, and if you look at the options, it actually says conveCtion... when you choose this option, it has a fan in the back which causes the heat to move faster, thus heat faster, ultimately, cooking faster to save time (something like that). There are recipes out there to use Convection Ovens. Like others on the string have mentioned, your “bake” option is just your “plain ‘ol oven”... took me a little reading to figure out mine...
I made this as written, except for roasting for only 25 minutes due to the fact that my thighs were not that plump. The potatoes came out perfectly (used Yukon’s). It was very delicious. Next time, I will experiment with skinless bone-in thighs, as they are more in keeping with our low-fat diet.
I made this recipe with PEI potatoes, and it was a huge hit with my family. It's already one of our favorite, and will definitely be in regular rotation. So easy, and so uniquely flavorful. We're only a family of three, so the only 2 things I plan to do differently, is to make it in a cast iron pan, and double the garlic and spice mixture to make it a little saucier.
Looks fantastic and I want to toast and grind whole spices make to my own ras al hanout as shown in the video. What are the quantities of the 9 spices that were used?
Hi John -
Reem Kassis' spice blend appeared as a sidebar on the same page as the magazine article, but is not on the website for some reason. Here it is below:
Reem Kassis Spice Blend
Reem Kassis says every household has their own spice blend, a mix that is used daily. To make her family's recipe, Kassis calls for *6 tablespoons allspice*, *6 cinnamon sticks* (broken in half), *3 tablespoons coriander seed*, *1 tablespoon black peppercorns*, *10 whole cloves*, *½ whole nutmeg* (crushed), *1 teaspoon cardamom seeds*, *½ teaspoon cumin seeds* and *2 blades mace*. Toast all ingredients in a skillet until aromatic, stirring frequently. Cool, then use a spice grinder to grind to a powder. Makes about 1 cup. Keeps for three months in an airtight container. If you don’t have blades of mace, stir in *½ teaspoon ground mace* after grinding.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
I’d like to try this chicken recipe using ras al hanout as I have the whole spices to make it.
Can you tell me how much of the ras al hanout I should use for the chicken and potato recipe.
Where is the note about pomegranate molassses? I don't really like it; I've used it before for muhummara.
Hi Eve -
The information about pomegranate molasses is in the headnote of the recipe. I've copied it below:
Dark, syrupy pomegranate molasses has a fruity, floral, tart-sweet taste that complements the fragrant spices and as well as the caramelization that results from roasting. Look for it in the international aisle of the supermarket or in Middle Eastern grocery stores. If not available, substitute with 1 teaspoon each lemon juice and honey in the seasoning mixture and serve with lemon wedges.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
This recipe is brilliant! I did it with 5 pounds of chicken, and made two little vents for the garlic instead of one big one, and used an oversized baking sheet. The chicken was moist, had incredible flavor, and the pan sauce was awesome (yay for shamaltz)! Looking forward to trying the other traybakes, and hoping for more Milkstreet traybake recipes in the future.
First of all, this was very, very good. A couple of points: in reading other comments I reduced the oven to 425, used leg quarters which were about a pound a piece, they were finished in less than 25 minutes--I was using a probe and at 25 minutes the food temp was 185 so had I gone the full 30-40 minutes they might have gotten too brown. I was distracted and accidentally put in double the cardamom, no harm done that I could tell. First time I'd ever used pomegranate molasses; it certainly won't be the last. Easy and very yummy.
Love the convenience of traybakes. This was incredibly easy to prepare, the chicken came out with crispy skin and great flavor, and the sauce was delicious. Note that the potatoes will likely not crisp-- mine came out soft and tender, and we lapped up the sauce with them. Solid though not a knockout, but the ease and simplicity of making it means it punches above its class.
Hi. Since I don't eat white potatoes of any kind, I am wondering if sweet potatoes would work?
Hi Kathy -
You should be able to substitute sweet potatoes. However, keep in mind that sweet potatoes have significantly more moisture and sugar than white potatoes so they may leach out sugary liquid that could burn on the sheet. We would just keep a close eye on it and, if necessary, lower the heat to make sure they cook through without burning onto the sheet.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
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This recipe came in the latest Milk Street Magazine. While I've tried numerous recipes from the magazine and the website, this one is to die for! I generally have to adjust recipes for our T2 diabetes, I substituted potatoes for broccoli and cauliflower mixture. It was wonderful.