Meal Kits seem to be very popular these days. You know those things where they sell you all the ingredients for a great meal and give you instructions on how to cook said great meal? I think the trend started well before The Pandemic but with more folks than ever cooking at home, Meal Kits are more popular than ever.
Except around here. I don't go for them for a number of reasons, one being that I'm a terrible cook. Another is that I'm an impatient cook. I don't see why I should spend a large chunk of my day making a roast chicken when with a few clicks on an app, Grubhub will deliver to me a piping-hot Zankou Chicken and a container of their Basmati Rice in about a quarter of the time it would take me to make an inferior meal…and for about the same cost. (The last time I wrote something like this on this blog, a lady wrote me to say, "I can make a much better chicken at home." Well, good for you, ma'am. I can't.)
And the biggest reason I don't like Meal Kits is because — and they'll deny this but I know it's true — every time one is designed at any Meal Kit company anywhere, someone says, "Now, make sure you put in at least one component that Mark Evanier is deathly allergic to." And then in reply, someone says, "Don't worry. I'm making sure our whole menu will kill him." Okay, I'm kidding about the plot against my life but when I look at the selections offered by Meal Kit companies, that's what I sometimes think.
Recently, I noticed that the Chick-Fil-A fast food chain is experimenting with a Chicken Parmesan Meal Kit. Not all of their outlets have it but the ones near me do.
It comes with prepared, warm chicken filets, a packet of marinara sauce, a packet of cheese, a packet of cooked pasta, a packet of Alfredo sauce, a small box of kale and cherry tomatoes and a lemon. To get what should wind up looking like the above photo, you put the filets on a baking sheet, pour on the marinara and cheese and then bake. While that's cooking, you chop up the kale and the tomatoes, mix them with the Alfredo and put it all in a skillet and then you cut the lemon and…
…and I don't care because they lost me at the baking sheet. Too much work, too much chance of me screwing up…and I can't eat kale or raw tomatoes and I don't like Alfredo so forget it. Just forget it. This is above and beyond the fact that the political end of Chick-Fil-A makes me uneasy about patronizing their business. I do sometimes because I like their sandwiches and I'm unconvinced that me boycotting them will accomplish anything or send the CEO any kind of message. But I don't give them anywhere near as much of my business as I might if I didn't have to think about this.
So though I love me a good chicken parm, all of the above combined to make me decide not to try theirs. And I haven't but earlier this evening…well, let me tell you what I did.
A lady I know was coming over to drop something off for me. She phoned rom her car and said, "I'm in the drive-thru line at Chick-Fil-A getting myself a sandwich. Would you like me to get something for you?" I said no and then I said, "Wait. Do they sell just a plain, breaded chicken filet that's not spicy?" She said they did and I had her get me one.
Soon, she dropped off the item she had for me and also my filet. It was still warm. I decided not to mess at all with the oven. I put a non-stick frying pan on the stovetop, put the filet in the pan, added a big spoonful or two of Rao's Marinara Sauce and a mound of shredded parmesan and mozzarella. I heated it until the cheese melted and that was all it took.
It was a bit small — I should have gotten two — but what there was of it was terrific. I've had way worse chicken parm in acclaimed Italian restaurants. I won't make this often but I will make it again.