Mom is gone now, but her eating habits live on in me. A doctor once asked me if I ate the typical American diet. I didn't know. What is the typical American diet, I asked. "Junk food," he said.
In fact my diet consists more of fish, chicken, rice, fruit, nuts and even vegetables. This is entirely due to what my mother taught me about food -- that candy bars, potato chips, and Froot Loops may be very tasty, but are not really food, and are only occasional treats to be eaten alongside real food. She was wise enough not to ban such substances from my life entirely, but to keep me from making a steady diet of them. These good eating habits have stayed with me, and I am very grateful to Mom for that.
Of all Mom's dishes, the one Dad and I remember most is her recipe for chicken and rice. This is not some ultra-lean health-food thing, nor is it particularly exotic; it's just good plain home cooking. I particularly associate it with Sunday nights, when chicken and rice would be served with Martinelli's Sparking Cider and either 60 Minutes or All Creatures Great and Small on the TV.
Here it is, just as she wrote it, with her corrections intact. At some point I guess she decided one bouillon cube would never be enough. Mom made it with a variety of chicken parts, but Dad always liked wings best.
400º oven
Chicken parts - about 1-1½ (2¼?) lbs.
1 cup rice
Chicken bouillon cubes, 1 - 2 cubes depending on taste
Flour
Salt
2 cups boiling water
Margarine
Onion - optional
Put flour and salt in plastic bag; shake chicken pieces in flour. Melt margarine in casserole dish. Put chicken pieces in melted margarine, skin side down, and bake 20 minutes. Boil water before 20 minutes are up. After chicken has baked for 20 minutes remove from casserole dish, add hot (Boiled) water, chicken bouillon cubes, dissolve completely, then add rice, onion and chicken, skin side up. Bake 40 minutes.
January 12, 2008