Memory Food

Tonight I made food from memory. These are foods that my Mom makes that I don't have written recipes for. They are foods I have learned to cook at the elbow of my mother when I was young and as a helper as I grew. They are now implanted in me like part of my genetic code. Chicken cutlets, was a Sunday dinner meal. It is simply chicken breasts, breadcrumbs, (seasoned Italian style with garlic salt/powder, dried parsley, grated cheese, pepper) egg, a bit of milk, and of course the olive oil to fry them in. The chicken breasts (I pound them out to make them thinner) are dipped in an egg and small bit of milk mixture, and then breaded. Breading was a job for my sister and I. As I make these today I still I hear my mother's voice in my head, telling me to press the breadcrumbs in well, so they wouldn't fall off in the frying pan. The frying was always my mother's job. The accompaniment to chicken cutlets was mashed potatoes. These two are a pair I never split up, as I eat almost every bite of the chicken cutlet with a bit of mashed potatoes on my fork.

One of the other memory foods I made this evening was an autumn butternut squash dish. Butternut squash, with butter, brown sugar, golden raisins and walnuts roasted in the oven. It is a sweet dish, but not super sweet like candied yams. The golden raisins add their own amount of sweetness so you can go easy on the brown sugar and the walnuts provide a nice crunch.