Archives for 2012

Roasted Chicken with White Wine and Rosemary

May 8, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

My favorite roasted chicken recipe…

Roasted Chicken with White Wine and Rosemary

1 Whole Chicken
Olive Oil
White Wine
Sea Salt
Pepper
Small Orange
Lemon
Small Potato
Small Yellow Onion
Rosemary
Garlic

Wash and pat dry the chicken. Place in a roasting pan. Fill the cavity of the chicken with slices of orange, lemon, chunks of potato and onion, rosemary stems and whole garlic cloves. Don’t be shy – stick your hand up in there and stuff it full of these goodies. Rub the bird with olive oil, salt and pepper. Be generous with the salt and pepper. Pour about a half cup of wine in the pan and over the chicken. Cover tightly with foil and roast at 350 for about an hour. It will depend on the size of the chicken so keep a watch on it. Baste it with the wine occasionally. Uncover and roast an additional 20 minutes or so at 425 for extra brown crisp skin. Discard the fruit and veggies in the cavity. That was just for flavor. Deglaze the drippings with more white wine for a delicious sauce.

If anyone in Dallas needs rosemary, feel free to cut some from our enormous rosemary bushes. If anyone needs wine, talk to Harold. He knows all the best deals around.

talya

Musical Pairings:

Beach Boys, “Gettin Hungry”

Rosemary beside our porch

Adventures with Aunt Virgie

May 8, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner

Aunt Virgie lived at the end of Johnson Road at Carrolls Corner just past Athelstan. The house was tiny, the ceilings slung low, the outside was covered in old asbestos siding—just like our recently purchased Fayetteville house. In fact, our new house reminds me of Aunt Virgie’s house, which is probably one of the reasons I was drawn to it.

Sometimes I think I channel Aunt Virgie…

Fayetteville Cottage

As kids we often slept at her house which was always a great adventure, a bit like camping. Aunt Virgie had no indoor plumbing… even in the 1970s. We thought her back yard outhouse near the chicken coop was THE coolest thing ever.

Using the bathroom outside in the dark was THE coolest thing ever.

I suggested to my husband that we might build an outhouse for our Fayetteville cottage. Since there is only one teeny bathroom (the size of our Dallas shower), an outhouse would be a brilliant time management tool! Especially since we are always working in the yard (no more tracking dirt into the house when we are digging and planting). And especially since I always have to pee.

It would be adorable tucked away in the wisteria beside our bamboo forest, maybe with one of those little half moon cut outs on the door. Just a one-holer and only used for number one, of course.

I’ll have to check with our friend and real estate agent Paula to see if this would hurt the re-sale value. But, this is the Ozarks… I think it would boost value… a 2 bedroom/1 bath + 1 holer….? Charming. And very eco-friendly.

Since Aunt Virgie had no running water, she had a pump outside the kitchen door. We took turns pumping buckets of water for her, avoiding the fat rooster that terrorized us and her chickens. That water was always cold and clear—the best tasting water—and we drank it out of a long-handled dipper. After she died, I wondered about that dipper. I hope someone in the family kept it.

In that tiny kitchen with the 50s style formica dinette and authentic tin pie safe, she baked the most fabulous pie crust for us as a special treat. She rolled out her dough, cut it into strips and baked it. We ate those strips of flaky crust straight out of the oven with nothing on it. If I could do one thing over again, I would watch and learn how she made that pie crust. I still haven’t perfected mine, but I’m working on it.

talya

The original 12 Johnsons
1960’s Johnson reunion.
Uncle’s- Ervin, Roy, Woody, Grandpa, Earl, JB, Land, Claris. Aunts- Ruby, Essell, Frances (my Nana), Rena and Virgie

Musical Pairings:

Alison Krauss, “Down to the River to Pray”