At 15 years of age, I announced to my 4th generation fundamentalist Christian mother that I was no longer accompanying her to church. “Oh, yes you are, Young Lady!” “Oh, no I’m not!” Door slam….door slam….and I never went to church with my mother again.
Sharing that is painful. Church meant so much to her and at that time in her life she was desperately needing the society of her family, her only remaining child at home….her peeps.
As a willful teenager, I didn’t get that. But what I DID get was that my Mother’s Sabbath was truly a Holy thing for her, and to be honest it was a time that I cherished as well. It was a time for reflection, quiet, nature, uplifting music, and….family.
So, until my mother took a job that moved her out of my hometown, our “new normal” was that while she was at church, I would shower, dress nicely, put on quiet religious or classical music, set the table for lunch, prepped and started the food, and was usually reading by the time she arrived home. Lunch after church was a special meal in our house and quite often included friends. While I was in college, those lunches usually included a varying number of my friends. Mother loved feeding my friends…”just tell me how many” was her only caveat.
I had the most wonderful sense of deja vu this week as I set the table for Sunday Dinner. I turned on some soft music as I counted out the napkins (and napkin rings—natch!), the chicken with vegetables in the oven and the tomato bread in the bread machine gave off all kinds of comfort food smells. And I remembered.
This week has been unsettling for hundreds of thousands of people. Our sleep has been disrupted with the changing of time back to Daylight Savings (a stupid tradition, but I’ll leave that to a future blog entry), and day by day, hour by hour we have been inundated with shortages, “guidance”, restrictions and recommendations to “self-isolate” for the sake of flattening the curve of the spread of COVID-19.
Sunday’s group was modest in size, but mighty in our desire for companionship and normalcy. One friend came with a heavy weight on his heart and we all listened and offered support, encouragement and advice on a challenging situation he has to conquer.
We laughed, cried, tried to decipher our new normal and generally clung to each other for reassurance and affection. We elbow-bumped in place of hugs, and the affection flowed just as readily as the wine. All this over a simple roast chicken. These are my peeps.
My Rotary meeting was conducted virtually this week via Zoom. The screen of my iPad became a Brady Bunch style collage of live shots of many of my dear Rotarians. We sang our usual songs, gave contributions to the club for things in our life for which we are happy and grateful, and had a wonderful presentation by our guest speaker—the very timely topic of communicable disease and how to keep yourself safe. This is my church.
A wise friend wrote beautifully on our current situation: “Turn off the news. You, we, have this wonderful opportunity right now, to take a step inward. Write a poem, create a beautiful meal for your family or yourself, paint a portrait, take a long walk, breathe….Open your heart. Enjoy the stillness and breathe.”
We all need community, peace, understanding and a sense of belonging. Find a way. Seek your New Normal. If you are sheltering in place, FaceTime or Zoom with friends. Have a “virtual” Sunday dinner. Go next door and knock. Find your community. This will end and frankly…I can’t wait.
Gotta go now….my cat needs a hug.
Keep Calm—and Wash Your Hands.
Whole Roasted Chicken on a bed of Root Vegetables
Equipment
- Large cast iron skillet OR roasting pan
Ingredients
- 1 4 – 4 ½ pound chicken
- Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper I like to buy the crushed pepper at the store and don’t notice a bit of difference between it and freshly ground.
- 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled Use a meat tenderizer to smash the cloves if you can. It will naturally split the skin and make peeling easier.
- 2 large leeks
- 3 tennis ball-sized rutabagas
- 2 tennis ball-sized turnips
- 4 medium carrots, peeled, trimmed, and cut in half If using large carrots, cut into quarters.
- 1 small yellow onion, trimmed, leaving root end intact, and cut into quarters White onions work fine also.
- 8 small red-skinned potatoes
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 4 tbls unsalted butter, at room temperature I use salted butter. Your choice.
Instructions
- Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1½ to 2 hours, or until it comes to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 475°
- Remove the neck and innards if they are still in the cavity of the chicken. Using a paring knife, cut out the wishbone from the chicken. (Makes it easier to carve the chicken.)
- Generously season the cavity of the chicken with salt and pepper, add 3 of the garlic cloves and 5 sprigs of thyme, and massage the inside of the bird to infuse it with the flavors. (Note: I like to add a couple of wedges of onion or lemon into the cavity also.)
- Truss the chicken. (Easier than it sounds. Cut a long piece of cooking twine. With the chicken laying breast up, loop the twine under the neck and bring it around both sides of the wings and around the bottom of the drumsticks. Cross the legs over each other and wrap the twine, from opposite sides, around the crossed legs. Tie a knot and trim the ends of the string to about 2 inches.)
- Cut off the dark green leaves from the top of the leeks. Trim off and discard any darkened outer layers. Trim the root ends, cutting around them on a 45 degree angle. Slit the leeks lengthwise almost in half, starting ½ inch above the root ends. Rinse the leeks well under warm water.
- Cut off both ends of the rutabagas. Stand the rutabagas on end and cut away the skin, working from top to bottom and removing any tough outer layers. Cut into ¾ inch wedges. Repeat with the turnips cutting the wedges to match the size of the rutabagas.
- Combine all the vegetables and the remaining garlic cloves and thyme sprig in a large bowl. Toss with ¼ cup of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables in a large cast iron skillet or a roasting pan.
- Rub the remaining oil all over the chicken. Season generously with salt and pepper. (Note: Put the chicken into the same bowl which previously held the veggies. Pour the oil over it and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Now you can turn the chicken over and around inside the bowl—cutting down on the amount of mess on your counter.)
- Make a nest in the center of the vegetables and nestle the chicken in it. Cut the butter into 4 or 5 pieces and place over the chicken breast.
- Put the chicken in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400° and roast for an additional 45 minutes, or until the temperature registers 160°F in the meatiest portions of the bird—the thighs, and under the breast where the thigh meets the breast—and the juices run clear. If necessary, return the bird to the oven for more roasting: check it every 5 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a carving board and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Just before serving, set the pan of vegetables over medium heat and reheat the vegetables, turning them and glazing them with the pan juices.
- Cut the chicken into serving pieces, arrange over the vegetables, and enjoy!.
