Passport Chicken

For anyone in the US planning to travel internationally in the next 12 months my tip would be to make dang sure your passport doesn’t need to be renewed and if it does, get down to the post office ASAP. The US government promises a returned passport in 6-8 weeks. JBS had an 11 week lag time when she booked her trip to visit me, and instead of heading to the airport at the present moment, she’s no doubt on the phone with the airline begging and pleading to let her reschedule the trip because someone at the passport agency f-ed up. Unfortunately I’ve heard this story a few times from friends and family. My favourite little passport renewal story involves my friend KSL – apparently she received her passport within 1 week of an upcoming international trip. However, low and behold her surname* was spelled incorrectly. When she contacted the passport folks they told her she had filled it out incorrectly on the form. Um, it’s been her name for 30 years – she's pretty sure she didn’t misspell it.

So, whilst quite disappointed that JBS won’t be visiting this weekend – I had so been looking forward to my first US visitor and all our little culinary trips and treats we would have gone on…I still have no doubt that the weekend will be a good one.

In lieu of JBS’s arrival I was craving something yum. Here’s what I call old school comfort food Dana style:

I'd typically call this "Pomegranate Roast Chicken", but in honor of JBS, it's now called "Passport Chicken."

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil or Butter
1 small Onion, diced
2-4 cloves of Garlic, chopped
Whatever green herbs you have lying around (I use Sage, Rosemary and/or Oregano)
Paprika
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
3-4 Teaspoons Pomegranate Molasses

- Pre-heat oven to 180ish (Celsius) or 350ish (Fahrenheit)
- Heat 1 TBSP olive oil in a sauté pan on medium high. Sautee onions until lightly browned, cool
- Using the olive oil or butter as a base make a paste combining the garlic and herbs de choice - Rub oil/butter mixture all over the chicken’s skin
- For added super duper flavour, separate the skin from the chicken and rub some of the mixture under the skin as well
- Rub some of the sautéed onions all over and inside the chicken, place the rest around the chicken in the pan
- Dust the chicken with the onion, garlic, and paprika
- Drizzle 1-2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses all over chicken
- Put in oven and cook for about 1.5 hours (depending on the size of chicken)!
- Every 30 minutes open oven and drizzle an additional teaspoon of pomegranate molasses over chicken

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