Strawberry Pickin' and BBQ Chicken

 

Strawberry Pickin' and BBQ Chicken

 

For most people, picking is just a verb that has a lot of different meanings.  For moms, it's something we do every day; constantly picking up after all those who live with us so we can see the floor in order to sweep it.  For siblings, picking means knowing which buttons to push and how long we can keep on pushing them before getting a major licking.

But for Southerners, it's not just a verb, but an experience, a way of life.  Something generations can, and still do, together as a family.

 For me, growing up, every late spring and early summer, we would go picking in my grandfather, Papa’s, garden outside of Athens, GA.   At the time, his garden seemed as big as Sanford Stadium, but now, if I was to go back, it would be what it is... and was at the time.....just a small slice of space no bigger than the carport behind it that my family all used to sit and rock on and watch the cars go by.  But just as loved.

If I did go back, I would hope to still find all of those luscious, vibrant colored tomatoes, squash, and zucchini growing out from the same tilled up dirt……the ones just like I’d find from my youth that I’d wrestle off of vine and bring into the kitchen with pride and dirty fingers. 

Because I know I will never again find my grandfather there, tending his beloved garden with his generous hands and strong, solid back.  He passed away many years ago, but I still hold out hope that whoever owns that spot of land now, cares as deeply about what can spring forth from it as much as he did. 

I guess I'm a little scared to go back and check.  I don't want to find weeds and dead grass where treasures and childhood memories once grew.

I have two daughters now.  They are 9 and 11.  It saddens me when I think about how they never had the opportunity to see Papa's garden and all of that love.  But we still take them picking every May anyway.  Now, it’s at Barefoot Farms located on St. Helena's Island near my parent’s beach house off Beaufort, SC.  They've been picking now since they could walk, talk, and count on their little, pudgy hands to ten and back again.

My most cherished memories are watching them with empty buckets, toddling up and down the strawberry fields.  Their buckets were bare because every, single strawberry they picked went into their mouths, the juice squirting down their sundresses faster than lightening.

 

It about time for a road trip to Beaufort to visit Barefoot Farms yet again seeing as the strawberries are at peak season during the month of May.   Though they are older, my girls still pick a plump strawberry or two right off the vine and gobble them up from their longer, leaner, yet more grown up fingers.  They also enjoy being in the kitchen and helping create something divine straight from the earth to our table….where they get to see the fruits of their labor born.... and appreciated.

I'll share with y'all now one of our families favorite early summer suppers.  It is all about slow cooked BBQ chicken, sautéed squash and onions, and strawberry short cake for desert.  From our heart and table to yours, I hope you can taste the love in the simple things that can grow from a single vine and into a lasting memory.

 Here goes:

 

My Mom's BBQ Chicken

Sautéed Summer Squash and Vidalia Onions

Strawberry Shortcake

 

Now y'all can't rush this….no matter how bad you want to get into the strawberry shortcake. You'll need to plan at least two and a half hours of loving care for the bird itself.  Not for the faint of heart, you'll need to dissect a whole chicken, skin and all, or pick one already cut up at your grocer or local butcher if you possess a weaker constitution.

 

1 whole chicken

2 cloves minced garlic

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

 

Set oven to 350 degrees.  Arrange your bird in a baking dish.  Poke the darn thing over and over again with a fork (good aggression therapy at the end of a long day) and then place the minced garlic in the fork holes.  Now, drizzle olive oil over the chicken and add salt and pepper to taste.  Place in oven for 20 minutes uncovered so the skin can brown slightly and hold onto the oil and garlic…basically it’ll get a nice, little beach tan but still stay juicy inside.

 

Next, decrease oven temp to 325 degrees and pour your favorite BBQ sauce (mine is Southern Souls BBQ- Sweet Southern Soul) generously all over the chicken before covering it with foil and sticking it back in the oven.

 

Cook another 2 hours at the reduced temp.  I promise y'all, it's going to fall right off the bone and is so unbelievably delicious.

 

While your bird is slow cooking, pour a glass of wine (for yourself, not the food) and sauté a pan full of fresh, thinly sliced yellow squash and a Vidalia onion in butter over medium low heat until tender.  My secret squash recipe calls for a cup of bottled zesty Italian salad dressing for a little kick, but that's just me.

 

Also, slice your fresh picked strawberries and pull out the Bisquick.  They have THE BEST shortbread recipe on the back of the box, so don't try it from scratch unless you're a pro. It's flaky and buttery with just the right amount of flakiness.  Never, ever, use the packaged sponge cake.  That’s sacrilege, y’all.

 

Let the shortbread cool, then cover with sliced strawberries dashed with a little bit of sugar and a dollop of whip cream and you are good to go!