Shaylee Amidon                                                                                               ENG 110 Section H2

My Favorite Meal

    When I first thought about the answer to the question what my favorite meal was I wasn’t sure. There is plenty of things I’ve eaten that tasted good and might be called my favorite. Then I start to think about memorable meals I’ve had with family and one dish seems to stick out, my mother’s stuffed shells. This meal is my favorite because a lot of my memories that accompany it was around my family, more specifically my mom and gramma. It just brings back good memories whenever I eat it. Stuffed shells are a type of baked pasta, it looks like giant shell pasta stuffed in ricotta cheese covered in red sauce and shredded mozzarella. It tastes like pasta covered in sauce but with a very creamy cheese inside them making the perfect mixture of sauce and cheese. When my mom would make them, I could never turn them down, there could be so many dishes spread in front of me and if my mom’s stuffed shells were there I would chose them no doubt.  

     My mom would often make them for family gatherings, such as the annual Christmas party, a cookout, or a birthday party. Sometimes, although rare, she would make a pan just for us. I remember one year for the Christmas party, I had asked her to make them because being a picky eater, I wasn’t sure if anyone else would make something I liked. She had said yes, then wanted to know if I wanted to help her. I did want to, I helped her to make the ricotta cheese mixture, I ended up making a mess out of cracking an egg. I didn’t help her fill the shells with cheese but did help her sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, a lot of mozzarella, I made her laugh doing that. When they finished baking we took them to the party and met up with my Gramma, when it was time to eat I made sure to get some stuffed shells and some of my Grammas meatballs. Dinner was fun that night, even though family members that I didn’t remember kept coming up to me telling me how much I grew. Fast forward a few months and it was my cousin Emma’s birthday and we were having a small get together at my Gramma’s house, we needed something that was easy to make and would make a lot. So, my mom decided on stuffed shells, I was happy when I saw her making them. This day was memorable because I hadn’t seen my cousin for a while and it was exciting to see her again. When we sat down to eat me and her were joking, telling puns, to my mom and uncle. It was a good lunch that day.

    I asked my mom about the stuffed shells to see what she does to make them and what she feels towards them. I first had asked if she had a recipe she follows, surprisingly she doesn’t follow a recipe, I find it hard to believe because they always come out so good. I was then curious when she had started making them, she wasn’t entirely sure but said it was somewhere in the 20s. Then it made sense to me why she didn’t use a recipe, she has made them for so long, so she memorized the recipe. She added that she keeps making them because she enjoys making and eating them and everyone else loves them, as well as she grew up eating Italian dishes because her mom would make them. I asked her why she thought I liked them and thought it was because I love cheese and stuffed pasta, which is true. I narrowed down the question and asked why I liked specifically her stuffed shells. She wasn’t entirely sure why and said maybe it was because when I would ask if she could make them, that she would make them. Since I was curious I then asked what her favorite food was, she took some time to think and said it was my grammas pasta and meatballs. Saying it was “because gramma makes the best meatballs that I’ve ever had, plus I grew up eating them”. After talking to her it occurred to me that our favorite dishes were rather similar, I think it’s because we both grew up eating Italian food, as well as a lot of the time when I eat Italian food we’re either with my gramma or eating something she made.

      Overall there is a lot of dishes I could have written about, but this is the one that stuck out the most. I learned that meals that I value the most involve a family connection.

   

 

Recipe: 

   Ingredients:

• 1/2 package jumbo pasta shells (8 oz. Or 24 shells)
• 1 jar marinara sauce – 27 oz.
• 1 egg, beaten
• 15 ounces Ricotta cheese (fresh recommended)
• Fresh chopped parsley – 2 to 3 tablespoons (optional)
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese