Making Meals with Meka! is live! | Marry Me Chicken!

Making meals with Mika. I hope everyone is doing great today. It's hump day. We are halfway through the week. And I don't know about y'all, but I am ready to cook some delicious food. I am so happy to be here. This is my favorite day of the week, hands down. Wednesday is my favorite day of the week. It's hump day and we are here in my kitchen making a delicious meal. So welcome. Today on the menu, we have a dish called Marry Me Chicken. This is a very, it's like a viral dish, right? It's like all of a sudden it just popped out out of nowhere. This is actually a delicious dish. And when it comes all the way down to it, it is a comfort food dish. So we're gonna take some chicken and make it nice and tender. We're gonna smother it. I love smothering. We're gonna smother it in a delicious sauce. And then we're gonna serve it up with some carbs, whatever carbs you want to, but I'm gonna show you what we're gonna cook today. So I just wanna say hello to everyone. I always like to go to the comments initially and say hi to everyone that's here. My brother is here every single week. Hi baby brother. Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out. If this is your first time hanging out with me, let me tell you how this goes. We just cook. We hang out, we cook, we have a good time. I interact, I go to the comments all the time. I would say midway through the cook, we do what I absolutely love. We're gonna call out where we're from. It is just so wonderful to see where everyone is from. I love to know what state, what country, what city you're from. So I go to the comments and we just shout out where we're from. And we're just gonna make a delicious dish. Throughout the cooking process, I will tell you what you can substitute here and there because I want you to make this dish your own. Yes, there's a recipe for it, but the best thing about my recipes is they are totally personizable, okay? So let's get started. Let's make this Marry Me Chicken. You're gonna start off with your protein. I am using chicken breast today. Now, you can also use chicken thighs. So there's gonna be a variance in cooking time. If you are cooking along with me, I did put the recipe in the description of this live. Come on in, we got people trickling in. Let's go, let's go. Come on, everybody, let's hang out. So I'm gonna tell you what you can substitute. For this dish in particular, I really do like the chicken breast in this dish, even though dark meat is my favorite, right? But I do like the chicken breast in this recipe, but you can use chicken thighs if you want to. You can even use like pork, right? You can use like a pork cutlet. This is fully customizable. So the chicken breast is room temperature. Also, today I am cooking for one. It's just me. So I want everyone, if you're single, if you just want, you know, well, Mika, I see all these recipes, but they're always for like people, you know, families of four. I'm gonna show you how you can just make this recipe for one person, because I am cooking for me. So if you are following along with me, if you see the recipe, all you're gonna do is like quadruple it. But I do want you to know that this recipe, you can totally make a single version of that, and we're doing that today. So we're gonna start off with the chicken breast, and the chicken breast is room temperature, okay? Now, with your meat being room temperature, it's important that you allow your meat to get room temperature, because it just makes it juicier. Whatever fat is in the meat, just kind of relax a little bit, right, right? So we're gonna have this room temperature. And if you're just tuning in, you're making Mizo Mika, and we are making Marry Me Chicken today, all right? I've tried this recipe a hundred times, and I absolutely love this recipe. So since this is my chicken breast right here, what I'm gonna do is I am going to slice this chicken breast on the cross section, all right? So I'm gonna take the chicken, and I'm gonna make it into two different parts, okay? All right, now if you want to, you can go ahead and break this down even more. You can make these into quarters. That's just gonna make them fry up a little differently. And what I'm gonna do is let me just go ahead and make these into quarters, okay? If you're using chicken thighs, you can do the same thing. You take the thighs, you're gonna slice them into quarters. Now, when we are seasoning, I always have one free hand for the seasoning, and one hand that's like all chicken-y, okay? So you have one free hand, one clean hand, and one chicken hand. All right, so we are going to start by seasoning both sides with some salt, okay? Now, I just have one chicken breast here, guys. I just have one chicken breast, but if you are cooking for you and your boo, go ahead, use two chicken breasts. If you have a family, I would say one chicken breast per person, right? So if you have a family of four, you're gonna use four chicken breasts. If you have a family of eight, eight chicken breasts. It's just me. So I'm just gonna use one chicken breast, all right? And then we're gonna go in with the pepper. Now, I normally grind my pepper, but since I have my chicken hands today, I'm going to use just some regular pepper, you know? It's all right. So salt and pepper. Now, as you can see, I am mixing it up as I'm seasoning it. I like to do it like this when I'm making chicken because I just want the seasoning to get in the meat, okay? We have salt, we have black pepper. Now, we're going to put some thyme. I have dried thyme on here, okay? Right now, you're not gonna use fresh thyme. The fresh thyme is gonna come in later, but because we use thyme in the sauce, this is called mimicking flavors. I want the chicken to have just a little bit of that thyme, okay, and then I am going to use some basil or basil, wherever, depending on where you're from, basil or basil. Okay, and then that's it, right? So the chicken is nicely seasoned. You want that on both sides, okay? We don't do blend here, no blend here. So we got the chicken seasoned on both sides. And the cool thing about this meal is it comes together so easily and so quickly. So this is definitely a meal that you can make in the middle of the week, even if you're tired, all right? You can make this in the middle of the week. Let me wash my hands real quick, okay? And it's always important when you are handling poultry and things like that, that you take the time to wash your hands, all right? We do not want to do any cross-contamination. That's how we get sick. Okay, now I told you that this is a meal that it's chicken in a really delicious, creamy sauce. So you're gonna need a vehicle to hold all that sauce. The cool thing about Marry Me Chicken is you could use any type of carb or any type of starch. You can do it with pasta. I suggest doing like maybe a linguine or a spaghetti. You can have rice. It's delicious with rice. But today, I am going to do it with mashed potatoes, all right? So I'm gonna show you how I make my mashed potatoes. And I'm gonna cook the mashed potatoes, well, the potatoes off-camera. I'm gonna put it together on camera. So I have two red-skinned potatoes with the skin on. Now, this is just my preference. If you want to cook this without the skin, just go ahead and take the skin off. I am cooking these with the skin on, and they're gonna be delicious. The skin adds a really nice texture. So once my water starts boiling, I wanna show you, I do have water over here, okay? And I'm going to put my potatoes in the water, and we are going to boil these potatoes, all right? So we're gonna boil the potatoes. Now, let's get to cutting all of the vegetables that we are putting into this dish. Now, when we cut these, this is called the mise en place. Basically, we are prepping all the vegetables or all the seasonings that's gonna go into this chicken, all right? So we're gonna use a shallot. If you've never used shallot before, I am telling you to step your game up and try a shallot. Shallot looks like a little small red onion. And actually, it is in the onion family, but it's a lot sweeter and milder than a onion. And it's gonna go really, really well in this dish. So we are going to dice the shallot. So I took the shallot, I cut the ends off, and I'm gonna slice each half in half. I'm gonna go down the middle, and I'm gonna slice. Now, as I'm dicing this, let's go to the comments. How's everyone doing today? So we have Jojo is here. Hi, Jojo, hello, welcome. Jojo said, this is my favorite recipe from you. She made this yesterday. Hey, girl, yay! All right, so we have a real-life person that has made this recipe from my recipe, and she made it yesterday. Okay, that's amazing. We have people that's joining. If you are joining, hello, how are you doing? We have Renee O'Neal. I hope I said that right. Welcome, welcome, welcome. You are Making Meals with Mika. And right now, I am just slicing a shallot. If you've never tried shallot, you guys, I really want you to kind of step out of your comfort zone and try shallot. Shallot is going to add that depth of flavor, that onion flavor, but it's not going to overpower or take over the dish, okay? And we're just slice cutting everything we need for this dish, all right? So we have a shallot, and then we have fresh garlic. Now, if you follow me, you know anything about me, I love garlic. Garlic is just like so delicious, all right? So typically, for this recipe, if you're making it for four, I would say use about five to six cloves of garlic. I love garlic, and I'm going to use three. Now, let me give you a little lesson. This whole thing is a head, okay? This is one head of garlic, and the little bitty leaves off of the garlic is a clove, okay? So we're going to chop up three cloves of garlic, because I love my sauce very garlicky. How I chop mine is, I just take it and you just smash it with the back of your hand, and that's going to get the wrapping off of the garlic, okay? And then we're just going to go ahead and remove the outside, all right? Now, feel free to use as much or as little garlic as you want, I say the more the merrier, because garlic is delicious, all right? I love garlic, I'm putting it in everything, okay? Garlic goes in all of my dishes. We got Steve Reyes here, that's my boo, everybody. My boo is on the line, hi boo, how are you? I'm cooking for myself today, he's not here, he's off traveling, so I have to make marry me chicken for one, all right? So let me tell you guys, the history behind this dish, like it just went viral all of a sudden, all of a sudden, this dish just popped up, and what happened was, there was a food editor. A food editor created this dish, and they were actually filming her cooking it, and she let the person who was filming her, she let them try it, because she had called it something else, like, I don't know, Mediterranean garlic chicken or something, it had just like this generic name. And then when the cameraman tasted it, he was like, oh, I would definitely marry you if you make that for me, and then it changed to marry me chicken, and it just became like viral. So that's the history of this. All right, so we have our shallot, we have our garlic. We're also going to put fresh spinach in here, but when we get to that, I'll tell you that. And then we're gonna use some sun-dried tomatoes. I'll tell you my little hack on sun-dried tomatoes. So let's just get cooking, okay? I hope everyone is doing well. My potatoes are on. So if you are making this with rice, if you're making this with pasta, this is the time to put on, if you're, you know, put that on right now, because we want everything to be done at the same time. So you're gonna put your pasta water on, and you're gonna start cooking your rice, okay? All right, so let's get started here. I got my little baby pan today. Usually I have a big-ass pan. I got my little baby pan because it's just me. But I want you to know that you can still cook delicious meals, even if you're single and you're making a single serving, you know? That's the good thing about cooking at home, and that's the good thing about my recipes. They are all customizable. All right, let's see here. We have Jay Kelly. Hi, Jay Kelly! Jay Kelly is one of my A1 day ones. I'm gonna always shout out Jay Kelly. And we have Renee. So great that you give step-by-step instructions. Yes, honey! That is the only way to learn is step-by-step instructions. So I have my pan. It's already been preheated. I'm just gonna drop a little bit of avocado oil, okay? I know groceries nowadays are very expensive. Avocado oil is one of those more expensive oils, but it's so much healthier for you than all the other oils. If you don't have avocado oil, you know, you can go ahead and use some olive oil right here. I would not suggest using any other oil. No vegetable oils, no canola oils. We wanna keep it cute and healthy, so we're gonna put some avocado oil in here, all right? You guys, we got more cousins pulling up, okay? We have 30 people here. Welcome, if you are just tuning in, you are making meals with Mika, and you're just at the perfect time. We're making Mary V. Chicken, and I'm about to drop the chicken in the hot skillet, okay? We have this beautiful chicken. This is one chicken breast that I have sliced on a cross section, and I have cut those to make four pieces, and we're just going to, we love that sound right there. Who does not love a good sizzle? Come on now, we love a good sizzle. So we're gonna cook our chicken off, and while I'm talking to you guys, okay, I have to clean my dishes as I go, so I'm cleaning my cutting board over here in the sink. My sink is right here, all right? I hope everyone is having a wonderful hump day. We are halfway through the week, and we are making this delicious dish, okay? So I'm just cleaning my cutting board, all right? And you guys already know, I hope you guys are ready in about 20 minutes to go ahead and get ready to represent your city, your state, your country, your continent. I love to know where everyone is from, all right? So we're just gonna let the chicken breast do its thing here. Now, if you are using dark meat, so if you are using chicken thighs, you're gonna cook your chicken thighs on a little lower temperature, and you're gonna cook them a little bit longer because the chicken thighs do take more time to cook. Like I said, this is totally customizable, and let's just say you don't want chicken, right? I mean, it's called Marry Me Chicken, but another protein that goes really, really well with these seasonings is pork, and I know pork is kind of like a taboo meat. Some people eat pork, some people don't eat pork. I eat pork, all right? So pork goes really, really well with the thyme, with the basil, with the spinach. So if you wanna substitute your chicken for pork, go ahead and put pork in here. I haven't made this with any type of beef, so I can't tell you how it would taste with beef. If you want to make a vegetarian version of this, Marry Me Spinach, we can do that as well, right? You're going to omit all of this part, but when I start adding the cream, and the spinach, and the sun-dried tomatoes, that's where you come in, right? So right now, you're not on this trip if you're a vegetarian, but when I go down the road, I'll pick you up when it's time for me to pick you up if you're a vegetarian. But right now, if you're making this traditionally, you are cooking your chicken, okay? And this is, you know, chicken breasts takes like three seconds to cook, so they've been cooking for about two minutes. I'm gonna flip them over, because one thing about chicken breasts is chicken breasts will get dry on you really, really quickly, and we don't want no dry-ass chicken breasts, okay? So we're gonna flip this over, and then as soon as I see that the pink is almost gone, I am just gonna go ahead and take them off, because we do not want dry chicken, okay? And then once the chicken is ready, we're gonna just go right on in with our mise en place, what we have already cooked on the side. So I hope everyone is doing well. You guys, I am just feeling great. Wednesdays are my favorite time of the week, because I get to hang out with you guys, we get to cook, share stories, and great recipes. Let me go to the comments real quick. While our chicken is getting done here, Renee says, I can tell you really know your food and cooking. Yes, ma'am! It's like I took a whole mouthful of the aroma that's coming up. So I love cooking. I've been cooking since I was eight, you know? I feel like loving or hating cooking comes from whatever experiences you had as a child. When I was eight years old, my great-grandmother, her name was Madea, like all B.S. aside, I had a Madea before Tyler Perry coined the word Madea. And she had this little apartment, but every single holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, the whole entire family, and you guys, I'm talking about 20, 25 people will come to this one bedroom apartment that my great-grandmother lived in, and we would just all, it's kids running around and ----, outside, running in and out. We got adults having cocktails, and it was like the best time of my life. We always went to Madea's house, but when I turned eight, Madea called my mom, and she was like, bring Tamika over here. I want her to help me make Thanksgiving dinner. Swear to God. So at eight, I was like past the toy, right? My great-grandmother past me, and I had older siblings, right? Older cousins, aunts and uncles. My great-grandmother chose me to start cooking for the family, and I was in the kitchen with her just making homemade caramel from scratch cakes, like chicken and dressing, macaroni and cheese, and I just fell in love. And she was literally this big, and she had a step stool, and she would step on the stools and get stuff, and I just fell in love with cooking since then, and that was 40 years ago. Okay, so that's my story. All right, let's get back to the cooking. So the chicken is done. It's still juicy, but I'm gonna show you guys. Y'all see that? It's like juice coming off the chicken. That's what you want. Take the chicken off before it gets dry. We don't want no dry-ass chicken right here. All right, so the chicken is off. I'm gonna put that to the side, and we're gonna turn this down, because now it's time to flavor the sauce. So we want this turned down, because we don't want anything to burn. I'm gonna add just a little bit more avocado oil, just a little bit. If you're just tuning in, you are at perfect timing. You are making meals with Mika, and we are making the sauce for this Marry Me Chicken, okay? So I have the chicken that's off. It's resting. It's just chilling, hanging out. We're gonna put that to the side, and then I am going to add some shallots. And the thing with shallot, shallot is a lighter version of an onion, and it cooks a lot quicker, okay? So we're gonna turn this on low. We do not want this to burn, but we do want to scoop up all those little pieces of chicken that's been left behind, all right? So we're gonna turn this on low, and it already smells good, you guys. I have the aroma for the chicken, and I have the onion, and it's just hitting me, and it smells so delicious. Now, while these are just getting soft, let's talk about sun-dried tomatoes. Now, you can get sun-dried tomatoes multiple ways. This is how I prefer it, but you can get it however you want to. Sun-dried tomatoes come three ways. They come in a package like this. They come in a jar, and in a jar, they're in oil, and I think you can get them in a can. I've seen them in a can before. So we're all about cooking healthy, cooking deliciously. I don't like the ones in the oil, but to each its own. So I found these really cute sun-dried tomatoes in a package, and they don't have the oil, so I'm not adding any more oil to this, right? And they look like this. And then when we put them in here, they're just going to plump up. So these are no-oil sun-dried tomatoes, all right? These are the ones that I'm using for my recipe. If you, you guys, I totally dropped the tomato on the floor. I'll get that later. But if you like sun-dried tomatoes, and you want the oil, by all means, go ahead and get the ones in oil, okay? I am using the ones in the packet, all right? So once our onion is soft and translucent, you can see through it, okay? We're going to add the garlic, all right? Ooh, y'all, ooh, you guys know it's about to start smelling delicious, more delicious in here, because we have the shallot and the garlic. And then I like to put a couple of the sun-dried tomatoes, okay, because they're going to get bigger. Now, what I'm going to do is, because they are going to get bigger, I'm just going to slice them down just a little bit, because I don't want really huge pieces of tomatoes in my sauce, okay? So if you're just tuning in, you guys were making marinated chicken, and I am cutting down the sun-dried tomatoes into little slits, because I want a little bit of these tomatoes in every bite, okay? And it's okay to manipulate the ingredients. I feel like sometimes people are timid, and they're like, can I cut these, can I not? Yes, we're going to manipulate these. So I took like five big ones, and I just chopped them into little ones, okay? And we're going to saute these with the onions, with the shallot and the garlic. And I'm just checking on my potatoes over here, guys, because we're going to make some delicious mashed potatoes to go with this. I hope everyone is doing well. Hi, you guys. We have people pulling up to the kitchen. All right, it is smelling delicious. This is such an easy recipe. If you, you know, you had a long work day, you really don't feel like cooking, but you don't want to eat out, you don't want to door dash, this is a perfect recipe, because depending on the type of protein that you use, you can make this in 40 minutes. So from start to finish, you're making this in 40 minutes, and you are sitting down eating a delicious home-cooked meal. Okay, so to this, we're going to add some chicken stock. This is the base of our sauce. Now, whenever you add stock to a pan, the number one rule is you always want to heat it up, okay? And this is why. So I'm going to just put this in the microwave for like 30 seconds. This pan is already nice and hot, right? We have the temperature exactly where we want it. We got the onions and the garlic and the tomatoes. They're hanging out. The temperature is perfect. If you add anything cold to this pan, it's going to bring everything down. That's going to affect the, not only the temperature, but it's going to affect the texture. So whenever you're adding anything to this pot, you want to add it already hot, okay? So I'm going to turn this up a little bit, and I'm going to add hot stock to this, okay? And we just want this to get nice, and we want all these flavors to meld together. So I have this on like a medium high, okay? So if you're cooking this at home, you want this on a medium high, and eventually we want to bring this to a boil. And then we're going to add our cream. Now this is half and half. When we get ready to add this, if you have heavy cream, that's going to give you a thicker, richer sauce. If you're someone like you're kind of lactose intolerant and really creamy dishes don't agree with you, but you got to add the cream, I'm going to tell you to use half and half. I would not suggest using any type of like almond milk or oat milk because it has like sweeteners and stuff like that. It's going to change the taste of this dish. So we're just going to go ahead and use some half and half, okay? It's okay to use half and half, but I'm going to pour the half and half in this because I'm going to have to warm it up before I put it in here. So I'm just prepping for my next step, okay? Now while I'm going to wait for this to come to a boil, okay, we're going to slide this to the side and let's get started on our spinach. Now it's an, I like adding spinach to this dish. If you look up the recipe for this online, some calls for spinach, some do not call for spinach. I always want something green in my recipes, right? We want, we eat, we want to eat the rainbow. If you're eating and your food is just brown or beige, you might want to rethink that. So I have a whole, a whole bunch of spinach, literally. And we're going to use the whole bunch because you guys already know spinach is mad disrespectful, right? This is really going to wilt down into nothing. And this is the easiest way to, if you get it like this on a bunch, this is the easiest way to do it. So I've already ran this through water. You know, I put it through the water. I sprayed it and everything. And this little band right here is really good at separating the leaves from the stem. So what I do is, and I like to chop these a little smaller, right? Cause I want a little bitty piece of spinach and everything. I just go through and I just slice it all the way down to that. And literally like this is all stems. And you can go through here and like, if you are a very frugal person and you're like, no, I need to get every single leaf out of there. Go ahead, open this up. I'm pretty sure there's a couple of leaves in here, but overall this is mostly stem and then we're done. And right here, we have these beautiful ribbons of spinach, okay? That's just how I do my spinach. If you want to use frozen spinach right here, you can, but you need to make sure that you drain the spinach out because this is going to be a very creamy sauce. And we don't want our sauce to be watery from using, you know, the frozen spinach, but you can use frozen spinach right here. All right. All right, so I'm warming up the cream because now it's time to get serious, you guys. This is, this is boiling. And that's exactly what we want to do. And this is the same skillet that we cooked the chicken in. So you want to take your spoon and go around. You want to get all those little bits and pieces of chicken seasoning that was in there, okay? Now, this is where the magic happens. This is where the sauce goes from just regular to luscious. All right, let's see. All right. So I really want my half and half to be kind of like smoking hot. So I put it in the microwave and it's warming up, okay? How is everyone doing? Welcome! We have 35 people here. We're just hanging out. Let's just go to my favorite part of the live, all right? You guys already know. Before we go there, if you are having a great time, go ahead, hit the like button, give me a thumbs up. If you haven't subscribed to Making Meals with Mika, I don't even know why you haven't. Like, okay, but go ahead and subscribe, okay? And it's time for us to represent where we are from. So go ahead in the chat, let me know where you are from. What city, what state, what country? I will start it off. I am representing the Midwest. I am in Chicago, Illinois right now. So to this pan that has the garlic, the shallot, and the sun-dried tomatoes, I am adding steaming hot half and half, okay? This is our sauce. And you just add as much as you want to. If you want a darker sauce, you don't add as much. I like mine nice and creamy, so I'm gonna add most of that. We have someone from Puerto Rico, all right, hello! Puerto Rico's in the house. Let's go, Puerto Rico. That is Soto. Hi, Soto from Puerto Rico. We have Jay Kelly from Vegas. What up, Vegas? We have, what's that, 7068. I am really enjoying from Minnesota. Listen, I am catering a wedding in Minnesota this summer, boo, so I will be in Minnesota. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Let's go, tell me where you're from, you guys, so I can shout you out. In the meantime, I have just added the cream to this. Now, let's just make this more delicious, all right? So if you notice earlier, I seasoned the chicken with dried thyme. We're going to put some fresh thyme in here, okay? And what thyme does is it adds like a peppery, lemony seasoning, and it makes it seem like it's been cooking all day. Hence, thyme, it adds like the thyme to your recipe. So I'm gonna add a couple sprigs of thyme. We have Kathy from Kentucky, what up, Kentucky? What up, Kathy, how are you doing? I have been to Kentucky maybe once or twice. I have yet to go to the Kentucky Derby. I went there to party, okay? When I was younger, in my teenage years in college, I totally went to Kentucky to party for the Derby, and it was amazing, but I feel like now I'm more distinguished. I need to go ahead and get me a fascinator and a cute dress and go to the Derby, all right? Let's go, thank, welcome, Kathy. We have Carol from Jersey. Hello, Jersey's in the house? Girl, you better come on here and represent. You guys see how she represented? She was like, Jersey is in the house. Yes, Jersey's in the house, let's go. Okay, guys, so in this pan, right, I have the chicken stock, I have the heavy cream, okay? Now it's time to add the spinach, all right? And we're gonna wilt this down, and don't worry if it looks like, oh my God, it's too much spinach, and it's not, because the spinach is just gonna wilt down, and it's just gonna add a beautiful green color to our sauce, okay? And like I said, I love my sauce with lots of spinach. You don't have to use the whole bunch if you don't want to, but I suggest doing it. And we have to, because we've added different ingredients, we always need to keep up with the seasonings, okay? So let me recap, if you're just tuning in, we are making marry me chicken, okay? We've already cooked our chicken. It's just hanging out to the side, all right? In here, I have some shallot, I have garlic, I have some chicken stock, I have some half and half sun-dried tomatoes, and I just added some spinach, and I have some fresh thyme. So this in itself is like a flavor bomb. But because I just added so many greens, I do want to make sure the seasonings are up to par, so I'm going to add just a little bit of salt, okay? And then we're going to put some black pepper. All right, we want to make sure, and essentially I'm just seasoning the spinach that I put in here, okay? And we have, well, hello again. Hello again. I'm going to use the last four of your name. We have Car, and Car is from Turkey. Well, welcome back. I'm glad you decided to join us for a second week, all the way from Turkey. Well, hello, how are you? Okay, guys, so let me give you a close-up, okay? This is what we're talking about. What kind of car? What kind of car do you drive? What kind of car do you guys drive in Turkey, boo? Okay, so look at this. This is essentially like a gravy, okay? And it is smelling delicious, you guys, all right? We're almost done with this. I feel like I want to just take longer to cook it because we're almost done, and then we're going to say goodbye, and I love hanging out with you guys, but we're almost done. All right, so let me go ahead and taste. And when you're cooking, even if you're cooking for yourself, you definitely just want to continue to taste to make sure that everything is up to par. All right, let's go here. Car says he drives a BMW. Let's get it. I don't even know if you're a he or a she. Okay, so let's just go in here, and we're going to taste the sauce. And that tastes like I could totally take a bath in it. Oh my gosh. You guys, this sauce is creamy. It's seasoned. It's like it has the garlic flavor. You taste the chicken stock, believe it or not. It is just a beautiful, delicious sauce, okay? Now what we're going to do is we're going to thicken this sauce up just a little bit, and it's time to add the Parmesan cheese. Now, here is another note. If you are any type of cheese, okay, you guys, any type of cheese, I'm going to tell you to grate your own cheese. So this is my Parmesan block, right? I get a Parmesan block. I grate it. Let me tell you how serious I am, okay? You can even see the grate marks. Look at that. You guys see that? That is the grate marks on my cheese, and I just put it back in here. But you want to grate your own cheese because when you get already shredded cheese from the grocery store, it has a chemical on it, and the chemical is to prevent it from sticking together, and it kind of messes up the melting process. So I'm just going to put in about 1 1⁄4 cup of grated Parmesan, okay? Now, with the cheese, because we want that cheese to melt nice and smoothly, we're going to put in some real butter, okay? We're not going to use margarine. We're not going to use so-you-think-it's-not butter. We're not going to use any of that, okay? We are using some real cream butter, and I'm going to use just one tablespoon. If I was cooking a bigger portion, I would use more, but it's just me. So we just need one tablespoon of butter, okay? We're keeping everything delicious, everything authentic, everything fresh. You guys, it smells so amazing. We got the Parmesan cheese, the cream. You guys know Parmesan, the cream and garlic. You already know that this is delicious, and I just spilt a little bit. Don't even worry about it. Okay, so guess what, you guys? This dish is almost finished. So the only thing I need to do now, right? And I've been stirring this really, really gently to make sure that the Parmesan has melted, okay? Which it has. You guys see, I keep spilling it. Like, what's going on here? Maybe I need to get a smaller utensil now, okay? So the Parmesan has melted in here. Now it's time to, I am going to place the chicken back in here. So we put the chicken, we got the chicken that we cooked earlier. We're going to put it inside this delicious pan of goodness. All right? And the juice, you see that juice? The juice goes in there too, all of it, okay? And then what we're going to do is we are going to allow this to just simmer. I'm going to turn this on low. So typically this is on like a number five. I'm going to turn this down to a number two because now I'm going to cover it, okay? And now what we're doing is we just want all of these flavors to meld together. And I'm going to pull this to the side, right? And I'm just going to let him do his thing. Now in the meantime, in between time, did you guys forget about the mashed potatoes? I didn't. It's time to make mashed potatoes, okay? So let's get these potatoes going because these potatoes, they're going to be our vehicle that's going to catch all that delicious sauce. Now, if you're just tuning in, in the beginning, I said that you could use, you know, any type of starch that you want. This tastes delicious with pasta. It tastes delicious with rice. I'm going to use potatoes because I love potatoes and I think they're wonderful with this sauce. So I have my red potatoes, right? They've been boiling, but they're done. So all I'm going to do is I'm going to drain them in my sink over here, okay? And I kept the skin on my potatoes, guys, all right? Because I like the texture. So we have the potatoes. Can you guys see? I don't know if you can actually see inside the pot. Should I raise you guys up a little bit so you can see? Okay, I've never done this before, but we're going to go ahead and I'm going to give you an insider to the pot, all right? Is that better? You guys can actually see what's going on in this pot. I feel like you deserve that much. All right, so I have my red potatoes with the skin on. I'm just going to take a fork and I'm just going to mash these, okay? Just going to mash them. Now, I don't have a potato masher, but if you have a potato masher, feel free to use a potato masher. I don't have one of those, all right? And that's just because I really don't make potatoes enough to use a potato masher. I have a meat masher. And I'm just mashing these with the skin on, off of the heat, because they're done right now. So I really don't need any more heat, all right? How are you guys doing? Hello! Right now, I am making mashed potatoes, okay? So I have the potatoes all mashed in here. Now, the next part. This is very important, all right? We are going, because I like my potatoes really nice and chunky, all right? So you do whatever you want. Now, I use the red skin potatoes. You can use Idaho potatoes. You can use white potatoes, whatever you want, all right? So these are nice and mashed, all right? Now, we have to season these. So we're gonna start with some butter, all right? You're just tuning in. You're perfect timing. We are making the mashed potatoes to go along with our Marry Me Chicken. Our Marry Me Chicken is over here just getting all delicious and umptiousness over there. So I'm going to add some butter. I'm gonna add about two tablespoons of butter, okay? Not margarine, not so you can't believe it's not butter. We are adding real butter, okay? Real ingredients. You can eat real ingredients, okay? Now, you guys see this? This is the cream that I had left over, or the half and half from my gravy that I did with the chicken. I'm gonna heat this up just a little bit more, okay? Now, I am going to season these potatoes with some salt, okay, just really simply. Some salt, okay, and some black pepper. Now, if you want to add garlic right here, if you want to put Parmesan in here, if you want to add chives, you can add whatever you want to to your mashed potatoes. But remember, these mashed potatoes are going to be topped with that delicious Parmesan cheese sauce, so we really don't need to add a lot. We just want them to be flavorful, okay? So can you guys see that? Now, this is one serving, okay? It's just me. So this is just one serving, all right? And then we're gonna take the hot half and half. You guys see that? It's hot. And we're just gonna add, I do a little bit at a time because I don't like my mashed potatoes mushy or runny. So just a little bit at a time, and I'm smashing as I'm going, okay? I'm not stirring. Let me tell you why. When you stir, there's a lot of starch in these potatoes. Stirring is gonna make them like gummy, right? We don't want gummy potatoes. Like, that's not delicious. So what I'm doing is I'm just mashing, okay? And I just lift and mash. You don't want to stir, okay? And you just keep going. You're gonna slowly add just a little bit of that half and half until you get to the consistency that you want. So this is just gonna take a little patience. You guys see that? This is just gonna take a little patience, all right? And then you want to taste it. Now, typically, I would get another tasting spoon if I'm making it for other people, but I'm eating this. Like, I'm gonna be the only one eating this, so I'm just gonna go ahead and taste it with the spoon when I'm using, with the fork I'm using. And of course, it's fire. It's fire, because I made it. I need a little bit more pepper, okay? And guess what, guys? These are done, all right? So if you're using potatoes, you're gonna use that method. If you're using rice, go ahead and taste your rice. If you're using pasta, your pasta should be done by now. And guess what? It's time to put this all together. I hope everyone's having a great time. If you are, go ahead and hit the thumbs up. If you haven't subscribed to Making Meals with Mika, I really don't know why, but go ahead and subscribe, okay? Let's put this meal together. I wanna show you what the chicken is looking like, all right? Oh, look at that, you guys. Look at that. It's just bubbly and delicious, and we got the sauce that's nice and thick. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. I cannot wait to eat, okay? Now, if you want to, you could evaporate the sauce. You can make it as thick or as thin as you like, right? So if you're doing pasta, you know, this is like the perfect consistency. Let me show you. This is the perfect consistency because you want the pasta to soak it up, all right? If you're doing rice, you might want it just a little bit thicker. And all you have to do is just take the lid off, and you're gonna turn up the heat. And then adding more heat is going to allow it to evaporate, okay? But for me, because I'm doing potatoes, and I love saucy potatoes, right? I want my potatoes to soak up all of that sauce. This is the perfect consistency for me, all right? And guys, this is just one chicken breast. And this is essentially like two servings. You know, I can eat this tomorrow too, okay? Let's put this together. Are you guys ready? I hope everyone is having a great day. Okay, guys. So now we eat with our eyes first, okay? So I'm going to plate this. I thought it would be good to plate it on a black dish. You can plate this however you want. But if you want someone to propose to you with the marry me chicken, you want to, when you present it to them, a man or a woman, whoever you're serving, you want them to look at it and be like, oh my God, I love you, right? So we want this to look good. So let's start with the potatoes. They're delicious. They are delicious. So I'm going to take my potatoes. Like I said, this was two potatoes. I'm only gonna do about half, right? I'm just going to spread them out and just make like a little, you know, a little crevice. This is where the meat and the gravy are going to sit. Okay? We got our potatoes. Ooh, I'm so excited. Now, this is done. So we're going to take the chicken. Let me use this. We're going to take the chicken. I want you guys to see this in real time. Okay? We're plating in real time here. I'm going to put two pieces on here. Remember, I sliced this in half and then I cut those halves in half. So it's okay to get two pieces, all right? We're going to get two pieces. We're just going to place them on here. And I want the big pieces, you know? Now, I did put fresh thyme in here. Before you serve this, make sure you take your thyme out, okay? Because your guests can't eat those. Okay? So make sure you take your thyme out. Then we're going to take the next. Let me get this one. We're going to put this right on here. Okay? And then we want some of that goodness, you guys. So in this pan, we have the sun-dried tomatoes. We have the spinach. We have the cheese. We want all of that over here, okay? So I just go in with another spoon and I'm just going to take it and just layer it all around. And it should be cheesy. The spinach should kind of be sticking together because it's combined with the cheese, all right? So we're just going to take it and layer it around. And then what I do is I put more sauce on top because I like really saucy mashed potatoes. Like you really can't even see the potatoes with all the sauce. Okay? And then we're going to clean it off, right? Because you with your eyes first, you're just going to take a nice little towel. You're going to go around. And this is exactly how I like it. Like it's sitting on a bed of sauce. Oh my gosh. And then because we're fancy, we're going to take our Parmesan and I have the grater and we're just going to go on top. And we're just going to go until your heart desires. Okay? Make it rain, Parmesan cheese. Now, if you want to, you can top this with some fresh parsley. Okay? Right? We have the green on here so we really don't need to, but you can top it with some fresh parsley. All right? And then you present it like, there you go. Okay? This is marry me chicken. Right? Thank you guys. I got people saying it looks delicious. Wow. I literally make this once a week, right? It is so delicious. You want to make this once a week. Yeah, this is easy peasy. We got fresh ingredients. The flavor goes well. Let me go ahead and dig in real quick. Cause you guys know this is my dinner. When I cook for you guys, I literally go eat. Well, I clean up first because I'm kind of like crazy like that, but I literally go eat. But I just want to show you like the chicken is so tender. Even though we cooked it fairly quickly, we just let it marinate. And I just go in, I cut me a piece of chicken. I get all that delicious sauce. Look at that. Let me blow it. Okay. It tastes exactly how it should. Right? It tastes exactly how it should. And like with the potatoes and that sauce is like, this is so amazing. And that's it you guys. I want to say thank you for hanging out with me, making meals with Mika. This is Marry Me Chicken. If you have questions about anything, feel free to email me, message me. Every single week we're doing this. If you had a good time, go ahead and give me a thumbs up. If you're not following me, go ahead and subscribe. And next Wednesday I will be here. If there's any dish that you're struggling with or you want me to make, I take suggestions all the time. Message me, email me. I would love to recreate something that you love. I really appreciate you guys hanging out with me and I will see you guys later. It is time for me to clean up and then I'm going to go eat, okay? I hope you guys have a great evening. Jojo, she says she makes this once a week, you guys. This is how delicious this dish is. You can make it once a week, all right? Have a good evening, you guys. I'll see you guys next week, all right? Talk to you later.