Favorite Meal
When I’m asked what my favorite food is, the first thing that pops into my mind is the easy answer, Mac and Cheese. But when I was asked what my favorite meal was it took me a minute to really think about it. I began to think about the meal that I always want to be cooked for special occasions like my birthday, or my last home cooked meal for a while. It was an easy answer after that. Chicken Marsala is what came to mind. For the majority of the time, it’s my mom, Veronica, who makes this meal. In all honesty, she is the best cook by far. There hasn’t been a meal that she has made, that I haven’t liked. I remember the first time she made Chicken Marsala and when I took my first bite, I knew I had found my new favorite food. Chicken Marsala has multiple flavors in it that all go together well. When thinking about these flavors, it brings back memories of birthdays, Christmas, celebrations, and some bittersweet moments of my life.
When I called up my mom to ask her a few questions about this particular meal, I started out by asking her what she thought my favorite meal was and it was obvious to her. As I said before I always ask to have this meal whenever the choice is up to me, so it’s very clear to her as to what my favorite dish is. The answer she gave me correlated well for when I asked her the question, “Explain your relationship with this dish- what does it mean to you.” The thoughts that came to her mind were all family and home related. She said it reminds her of “family gatherings and dinners, means my daughter is finally home for dinner and movie nights.” Her thoughts about this meal are a lot like mine.
When I think about this dish, I also have thoughts about family gatherings. This meal always brings warm feelings to my mind. Chicken Marsala is one of those comfort foods that I just love. When I asked my mom what comfort food meant to her she said, “it makes you feel at home and puts your mind at ease.” This is exactly how I feel when I eat this meal. It’s a chicken dish, but it is mixed into a marsala wine sauce with sautéed mushrooms. You can eat it over rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes, but my favorite is with mashed potatoes. It reminds me of my family dinners where each person had their own seat at the dinner table where we always sat. We would eat this dish on our white plates that we have had for so long now. It would be dusk outside, and you could feel the cold draft coming through the windows that surrounded our dinner table. It reminds me of the sound of the chair screeching on the tile floors when either my sister, mom or dad had to get up because they forgot their knife in the kitchen. This reminds me of helping my mom do the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen just so I could get to cake and presents faster. We would do cake and presents in my living room with the warmth of the fire going in the fireplace. The luminescence it would give off would make the room seem so cozy.
This meal takes about 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook. It includes preparing the chicken ahead of time by covering it in flour, Minced Garlic, Marjoram, Minced Onions, flour, salt, and pepper. Once the pieces of chicken were covered, the chicken is cooked in a skillet with butter and oil in the pan. The chicken gets cooked just until the edges turn golden brown. Next, the broth is prepared by adding mushrooms, marsala wine, butter, and basil. This mixture is cooked until the broth thickens. Once all mixed together and the broth has thickened, Parsley is sprinkled on top. On the side, either mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta can be made to go on the bottom of the chicken marsala. My personal favorite is to have mashed potatoes with it. I have vivid memories of when my mom is preparing this dish. I can remember being in my room working on my homework and the smell of this meal drifting into my room. I remember hearing the sizzling of the chicken in the kitchen, and when the sizzling was done that meant it was moments away from when I could finally eat. This dish isn’t insanely hard to make so I think I could handle making it myself. I feel like the first time I make it, it won’t be that great, but the second or third time I would imagine it would taste better.
In our busy lives, it’s nice to know that there will always be something to draw you back home, or at least provide memories of home. For me, it will always be this meal, Chicken Marsala. My mom can even contest to this. She said it herself when I asked her why she thinks I love it so much. “It’s a comfort food that she requests when she hasn’t been home for dinner in a long time or it’s her go-to meal. It makes her happy and reminds her of home and family.”
Chicken Marsala
Ingredients:
o 1/3 cup of flour
o 1 tsp. salt
o 6 thinly sliced boneless chicken breasts
o 3 tbsp. of butter
o 2 tbsp. olive oil
o 1 package of sliced mushrooms (8oz)
o ½ cup chicken broth
o ¾ cup of Marsala wine
o 1 tsp of Minced Garlic
o 1 tsp of Marjoram Leaves
o 1 tsp Minced Onions
o ½ tsp of Coarse Ground Black Pepper
o 1 tsp of Basil Leaves
o ¾ tsp of Parsley Flakes
Directions:
- Mix the flour Minced Garlic, Marjoram, Minced Onions, salt and pepper in a dish. Set aside 1 tbsp of this mixture for later on.
- Cover the chicken with the flour mixture
- 2 tbsp of butter and oil in a skillet on medium heat. Cook the chicken until all sides are golden brown. Remove them from the skillet once cooked and set the chicken aside.
- Add mushrooms to the skillet and cook them until they are tender.
- Mix the broth and rest of flour mixture and add this to the skillet with the wine. Bring this to a boil and stir.
- Add the rest of the butter and basil. Cook for 2 minutes and until sauce is thickened.
- Add the chicken to the sauce, and sprinkle Parsley on top.
