Persian Chicken

We celebrated Thanksgiving a bit early this season. Last Saturday our kitchen was busy all day long. I cooked sweet things (cranberry salad, raspberry rice pudding, dessert). My husband cooked not sweet things (turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean almondine). My sister-in-law chased after Sarah and made corn bake. We invited one of my huband's colleagues and her husband over to feast with us. Our guests were Iranian and brought Persian chicken and rice to contribute to our feast.
We visited. We laughed. It was grand.

I am admittedly terrible about trying new foods. And I was scared to try Persian chicken. I like food that is plain, without excessive spices, or basically any seasoning at all, to be exact. I usually don't like ethnic foods other than Scandanavian (minus the lutefisk). I don't like forcing myself to try foods I probably won't like. I hate things with onions and garlic. In summary, anything with a distinct, unusal taste, I probably won't eat, and I don't even want to smell it.

The Persian chicken was a pleasant surprise! Roasted whole, like a turkey, it was covered in a dark black sauce. I was leery. It was neither sour nor sweet, and not overly strong. In fact, it was actually very good! Instead of stuffing the inside of the bird, it had been filled with a special paste that was a bit stronger, but not overwhelming. The chicken did not smell. It did not give me indigestion. I was very proud of myself for taking a food risk that actually paid off, and was very relieved that I didn't have to pretend to be polite for the sake of our company, whom I really enjoyed. I could honestly exclaim that I enjoyed tasting the Persian chicken and mean it.