So, fellow ‘cookers’, ‘foodies’, ‘nutballs’, ‘chefs’…what’s your specialty? What are the one or two things you make that friends and family go absolutely bonkers for, every single time and you know that you’re a god/goddess for that brief moment when everyone says
OH MY GOD THIS IS SOOOOO GOOD.
I have two:
I make shortbread lemon bars that are very delicious, and have actually had people cry when they run out. I’ve had people steal them out of my fridge before it was time to serve them, I’ve had people offer to give them to a restaurant taster. They are…good shit.
Homemade cheesecake, not too heavy, not too light, graham cracker crust and a blackberry/raspberry/strawberry topping that’s cooked down in it’s own juices and poured over the top.
If I want to be happy in a flash, I always head to my kitchen.
I’ve got a treadmill in the corner, you can eat it and burn it off at the same time.
I make a lasagna with a homemade meat sauce that includes hot sausage, ground beef, onions, garlic and green peppers. I also make a veggie-based one with chopped spinach mixed in with the ricotta and slices of portobella mushrooms and fresh tomatoes in between the layers. Take your pick!
I wish I knew how to make more Greek food - I think I had my first orgasm just by smelling my late grandmother’s cooking.
Things I make that I can’t eat that people tell me are to die for:
Butter Chocolate Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate frosting
Chocolate XXX-tasy (It’s obscene!)
I only play around with the Joy of Cooking, but haven’t had a failure yet, if you don’t count me misreading the recipe for Stuffed Brussels Sprouts and using a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon for the stuffing mix.
'S fun though, and the braised porkchops Creole tasted divine even after a couple days in the freezer.
I don’t have a specialty as such, although my lemon squares and pecan mini-tartlets have received raves.
It’s tough being in a mixed marriage though. I love to experiment and try new ingredients and techniques, but my wife tends not to like anything with too much flavor. It pains me sometimes to have to hold back on the garlic, or omit the chiles.
All this talk about Greek food has me salivating though. A friend of ours makes these little cheese squares that are to die for, must get that recipe. Oooh, and pastichio too, and let’s see I haven’t had galactobouriko in a while. Hmmm.
A few things:
[ul]
[li]Apple crisp. No recipe needed. It’s just one of those things I can do and is always, ALWAYS delicious. If I do say so myself. :p[/li][li]Roast pork rolled in coriander with Sweet & Sour Chile Cilantro Sauce. Out-freaking-standing. Really.[/li][li]This chocolate cake that takes about 4 hours to make because of all the grating of chocolate, cutting layers, frosting layers, etc, etc. But, boy howdy, is it tasty.[/li][li]Baklava. Easier than you’d think. Make it every Xmas. I usually use walnuts, but I think I’ll go with tradition this year and use pistachios[/li]Caramels. Butter, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, vanilla. Caramels rule. You could cover me in caramel and I’d be happy. Caramel wins out over chocolate any day, in my book.[/ul]
For company (and in general, I guess), I like to make different things each time, so that I can try as many different tastes as possible before I die, but my roast chicken stuffed with lemon halves and rosemary always gets raves.
I’m really more of a dessert person, though, if I had to pick a speciality. Lemon-blueberry cheesecake, macadamia-chocolate chunk brownies, and this really cool dessert involving bananas and chocolate wrapped in an egg roll wrapper and fried. Yum. Oh, and sour cream peach pie.
