Fried Chicken with Spiced Peach Gravy
Mom with my sister’s daughter, Leah, and me with my daughter, Luca. Tennessee. Maybe 2007? I have no idea why I have wet hair.
The” tired years’ are real, y’all. See that weird smile on my face?
I don’t know why you would be tired taking care of this little character! My daughter Luca’s school photo. Age. 2.
Mom and her rambunctious granddaughter, Luca. They had a super sweet relationship! Mom once commented that Luca didn’t just “march to the beat of her own drum, she had her own damn orchestra!”.
The original “tired years”. Mom with us in Greece. Maybe 1977? Can you imagine international travel with a 2 and 4 year old?!
This poor, tired mama! She’s available for adoption in the Austin, Texas area. This is the image that started it all….
My friend Maggie just adopted a puppy and, boy, has her life changed! Yesterday she sent me a photo of the puppy’s mom, who looks nothing like the puppy, funny how that happens. The poor momma looked exhausted, lying there nursing her brood. You know, anything for the kids! It reminded me of a holiday movie I once saw in the 1970s. Remember when it would get close to Christmastime and they would play something special each night? Charlie Brown’s Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty… all the animated classics. Well. one year my sister and I watched a movie where the main character (maybe some sort of deer?) was cast out of the tribe for being different. (I’m already tearing up.) He was sleeping in the cold snow and his mother came and slept on him to keep him warm. When he woke up she had died of exposure. (What the hell kind of Christmas movie was this?!). Needless to say, my sister and I were UNDONE. Sobbing. Horrified and miserable. Not festive. Mom was pissed! She wrote a letter of objection to the TV station for airing this traumatic tale disguised as holiday cheer. I’m not sure that Dale Reed, herself, changed small town NC Christmas TV programming, but I will say that I never saw that movie on the schedule again.
Oh, maternal sacrifice. The struggle is real. I’ve got an almost 17 year old daughter and we have our empty nest in sight, which is bittersweet. My daughter is downright independent: she drives, she regulates her homework, she’s researching colleges on her own, she’s very responsible. I keep telling friends with young kids that they will get there. This level of parental freedom seemed unfathomable to me when my daughter was little. I remember talking to Mom on the phone maybe a decade ago, exasperated about something or other. Mom said, quite frankly, “You’re in the tired years.”. Um, what? I made her repeat it. The “tired years.” This was helpful to hear. Mom always seemed like she had her act so together, so it was helpful for me to hear that she did so at an expense. I felt seen. And, what’s more, the “tired years” implied that there are years where you are NOT tired. #goals
When we first moved to Austin, I used to spend a lot of time cruising around learning the city with Luca in the car seat in the back. One morning I was driving North from our Hyde Park neighborhood and was surprised to see a sign for Spec’s. For those of you not from Texas, Spec’s is a wonderful liquor store and deli in Houston. When I worked for art galleries in the 90s one of my responsibilities was securing wine for our gallery openings, so I spent a lot of time at Spec’s. I didn’t realize that they were expanding into other cities, so it was a fun surprise for me to see one in Austin. I figured, “what the heck?!”, pulled into the parking lot, scooped my kid out of the back seat, and walked into the store in all my sweatpanted, no makeup, messy bun, tired mom glory to check out the new store. [CUE BALLOONS]. “Welcome to our first customer!”. Oh, God. It looked like I had been camping out in the parking lot with my baby JUST WAITING for the liquor store to open! Could this get any worse?! Yes, yes, it could. Wait a minute, didn’t I used to date that guy stocking shelves on the beer aisle?! Yes, yes, I did. “Sarah! I see you have a baby! And…… you’re at the liquor store at 10am.” All true statements. “It’s not what it looks like.”
Although I was inadvertently the first customer at the new liquor store, it certainly wasn’t the last time I went to Spec’s. Parenting is hard. I just made sure to peek in first to see if a certain someone had the day off. Thinking about a recipe for today I found this Hominy Grill one for fried chicken and thought it sounded like a big, motherly hug. Enjoy!
FRIED CHICKEN WITH SPICED PEACH GRAVY
From the Hominy Grill, Serves 5-6
Fried Chicken Ingredients
1 3-3 1/2 lb. chicken, cut up
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt fresh ground black pepper
2 c. peanut oil
Spiced Gravy Ingredients
2 tbsp. butter plus drippings from chicken
1/4 cup minced onion
2 tbsp. seasoned flour
1 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup spiced peaches** (chopped) [Del Monte product. Can be found in most grocery stores in the south.]
1/4 - 1/2 c. syrup from spiced peaches
salt & freshly ground black pepper
Chicken Preparation Instructions
Marinate chicken in buttermilk for at least two hours. Preheat oil in cast-iron skillet. As oil is preheating, combine dry ingredients in paper bag, drop the chicken pieces in the bag, tossing to coat evenly. Add dark pieces to oil first, followed by white pieces. Reduce heat to medium, cover & fry 15 minutes. Remove cover, turn each piece and fry another 10 - 15 minutes uncovered. Remove chicken to paper towels to drain.
Spiced Gravy Preparation Instructions
Re-use skillet from frying chicken. Saute the onion in the butter until golden. Whisk in flour and cook until browned. Whisk in chicken stock, bring to boil, turn down heat and add chopped peaches & syrup. Simmer for 4 or 5 minutes. Season w/ salt & pepper and serve over chicken.
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