I Made a Chicken

I channeled my mom tonight and put a perfect baked chicken on the table--complete with rice and gravy and peas--and the kids loved it. Baked chicken--always with rice and gravy and peas--was one of my favorite meals as a kid. Now, the one I made tonight was different than mom's by degrees--it was a "natural" chicken (as organic as I could find) and the rice was steamed in our rice cooker not boiled with butter and there were corn niblets in with the peas because DD is partial to corn. But the spirit of the meal was there. My gravy even thickened appropriately! It was so deeply satisfying to serve that chicken, which I managed to make easily and relatively quickly. And watching them gobble it down, well, just made me happy.

I think baked chicken might be my favorite meal again.

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Mom’s Baked Chicken

3-4 lb. fryer chicken
salt and pepper
1 cup water

Preheat oven to 500°F. Salt and pepper chicken. Sear uncovered in oven for 10-15 minutes. Add 1 cup water, cover, and reduce heat to 350°F. Bake for 1 ½ hours.
Make gravy and serve with rice and peas.

Mom

Gravy
I must be patient, I must be patient, I must be patient to let the gravy turn the right copper color—it always takes longer and it will thicken.

Heat 4 tablespoons grease. Add 4 tablespoons of flour. Brown til copper-colored. DO NOT BURN. Stir in 4 cups drippings (or a combo of water and broth to make 4 cups liquid). Add chicken bouillon and salt and pepper to taste.

Mom

Rice

¾ cups rice (like Texmati)
1 ½ cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

Put all ingredients in the pot. Boil and reduce heat. Cover. Simmer 15 minutes with no stirring.
If gummy, take lid off and cook a minute or so more. If hard, add 2 tablespoons of water and cook longer.

Mom