My partner and I had quite a successful final meal. All our food was cooked properly and was prepared within the amount of time we were given. Now our food type was Italian and we went for authentic and a bit complex foods from this style of food. For our main dish we cooked Chicken Marsala, side dish was Italian Crostino, and our desert was Zepolle. Our drink was Mo-Tea-Tos. All these dishes helped bring the dish together and both contrast and blend the meal as a whole together.
To star with my partner and I went to work on the Chicken Marsala. We got a large skillet, dredged the chicken, and began to cook it in the skillet once we added the olive oil to the skillet. For those who do not know dredging is the act of lightly breading your meat in flour. Moving on, once the chicken was brown on both side we removed the chicken from the skillet. Next we added in some butter, prosciutto and the mushrooms and cooked the mushrooms until they were golden brown on both sides. Then we added in the Marsala cooking wine to bring some substance to the sauce, and once that was cooked in we added in chicken broth and cooked the whole sauce through. Lastly we added the chicken back in and cooked it all the way through.
Now for our Crostino I had all the french baguette bread sliced into bite sized pieces, and preheated the oven to 375 degrees. After that I brushed both sides of the bread with olive oil and sprinkled the bread with salt and pepper for flavor. Next I placed the bread in the oven to cook for about 5 min Next I pulled them out and began to work on the topping. For that I chopped up some zucchini and yellow squash then grilled it up with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Next I added the grilled veggies into a bowl with mozzarella cheese and some olive oil to turn it into a topping. Lastly I topped each slice of bread with tomato sauce and the veggie mix. Then I baked it for about 10 minutes.
Now our two easier dishes were the Zepolle and the Mo-Tea-Tos. To start I made up the drink by making 4 cups of tea, added in tonic water, and lastly added in mint leaves to make a fresh and cool beverage. Now the Zepolle proved more of a challenge. first we had to mix up the dry ingredients which included the flour, baking powder, salt, and white sugar. During this phase my partner added the oil into the frying skillet and preheated that skillet to 425 degrees. Next we added the wet ingredients to our mix which included the eggs (beaten), ricotta cheese, and vanilla extract. We mixed the ingredients until the mixture was sticky. Next we fried the mix one tbsp. at a time into dough balls. After we had all the dough made into balls we added them into a bag full of confectioner's sugar to coat the balls. This made for a sort of doughnut ball sort of treat that tasted quite well.
All in all our meal went nicely. We had it set up in a plate service manner and had our table set to perfection. Our guests were delighted and a little bit surprised by how great our meal tasted. They gave us a lot of complements which gave the impression that it was good. When I tried it myself the chicken was tender and juicy with the sauce being savory. The texture was smooth overall throughout the meal. Except of the crunchy Crostino which was only enhanced by its toppings. Then we had the Zepolle which was warm, smooth, and sweet. Lastly we had the Mo-Tea-Tos that was a refreshing beverage to go with such a warm and wholesome meal. The only thing I can tell anyone is ! hour is not enough.