Hmm, I have had good responses from my Thai Curry with chicken and pineapple.
My Greek lamb chops are bloddy simple and so delicious, if I am feeling particularly generous, I may drop off a half dozen or so at Mags’ place for the potluck…I have to think about what else I maight do as I will be out of the country at the time.
I also do a nice gaulette of potatoes with fines herbes and goat cheese, a bruschetta as above, or artichoke dip for hors d’oeuvres.
For dessert, I make a mean Bananas Foster ( the secret is the Stroh Rum!)
I also make a Bananas Foster tart that is pretty darn tasty.
I make a killer Beef Stroganoff, literally. My daughter almost choked to death because she was eating it so fast. She and my husband rave about it.
Buttermilk Carrot Cake. Oh. My. God. This cake is so rich it’s sinful. After baking it you pour a warm buttermilk glaze over it and let it soak in and then frost with a homemade cream cheese frosting. I have to make this every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. If not my family wouldn’t allow me to come to dinner.
Well, I make a fettucine alfredo with morel mushrooms that my ex-wife swears is an aphrodisiac.
And I also make a french onion soup that uses three pounds of onions and a pound of butter, carmelizes the onions by slow-cooking for about an hour (no sugar added or needed).
I love cooking a wide variety of foods, but those are the two that get the most rave reviews.
I do a German-style meal that’s pretty popular: saurbraten (a pot roast that marinades for a couple of days before it’s cooked) and potato pancakes with gugelhupf (a yeast-based cake) for dessert.
My roast leg of lamb is often praised (lots of slivered garlic pushed into the meat, which is then coated with a honey/mustard/rosemary mixture). Sometimes, I serve it with a black-cherry rice pilaf that I got the recipe for out of a Harrod’s cookbook.
My kids seem to really like my spaghetti Bolognese when I take the time to do it properly (which naturally includes a cup or so of Valpolicella :)).
I make the world’s best Potato-Leek soup. And french bread to go with it, if I have the time.
In spite of the fact I am vegatarian, I make a mean Lemon Peel Chicken for the yard monsters. All three will eat it, on the same day. (Generaly there is always one who doen’t want that)
While Mrs. Dave-Guy handles most of the culinary chores around here, I do pretty well myself. Unfortunately, I don’t really follow a recipe. My style of cooking is more like, “Hmm. Chicken. What do we have around here that would go good with it? Hey, spices. A little of this, a pinch of that.”
But it mostly comes out good. I can’t remember any devastating flops, at least. And no one’s died, so…
But I do make little red potatoes and broccoli florets with onion slices, butter, garlic and other spices that I find lying around. Wrap in foil, put in 350 oven for 20 or 30 minutes, goes great with bobba-cue.
To be fair, Mrs. Dave-Guy makes one mean peppermint pie. And although her quest to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie continues unabated, no one around here is complaining.
We have friends and family who, before coming up for a visit, will call ahead and beg me to make Jambalaya. (They don’t have to beg too hard.)
And Jarbabyj, I used to make a cheesecake that would make a grown man weep, but haven’t for a while since it’s too dangerous for a man my age.
This morning, Mr. Rilch went to a meeting and brought some of the biscotti. He offered one to a friend, who was amazed that they weren’t store- or bakery-bought. His verdict was, “Much better than those crumbly ones at Starbucks.”
My best dish (as I think I have many < grin > ) is Green Chile aka Chile Verde. The authentic southwestern/Mexican dish. Side with warmed and buttered tortillas and a fresh batch of pinto beans and you have the classic and yummy dish for a Sunday meal (football is the icing.)
< shamless plug >
If any of you are willing to or want to share your recipes, please stop by my website http://www.colorado-cooking.com and click on the message board. You don’t have to be a Coloradoan to post there but if you have any Colorado friends or relatives, please show them the site. I plan on adding more as the days get shorter and the weather gets colder.
I thought chile was supposed to be accompanied by warm-from-the-oven cornbread. But that’s probably my Tennessee hillbilly mom’s side of the family coming out. I ain’t never ate no Colorado chile. Actually, it sounds good, techie. We need a lip-smackin’ smilie around here!
I wasn’t too impressed with the flavor overall, but something about that high-fat content kicked my stomach into overdrive. It was like a junkie fix.
I’m gonna play with it and throw some spicy Italian sausage in there next time, and maybe some other seasonings. All that fat in there (I used Irish butter) is gonna make it a flavorfest once I get the mixture right!
If I told ya, it wouldn’t be a secret then, would it?
Well, for one, I soak it overnight in a brine made with vegetable stock and several different spices.
I stuff it with aromatics that are super secret.
Then I put it in the over at 500F for about half an hour to crisp the surface, then finish it off at 350F after covering the white meat with foil. I cook it until the breast meat reachs ~165F under the foil, which means that the dark meat in the thighs and wings will be ~185F.
Oh, I also make the best Swedish Meatballs that you’ve ever tasted. The flavor and texture of the meatballs is perfect.
I make a chicken stew with homemade stock, chicken thighs (cheaper and more flavor), and lots of thyme that always goes over very well.
My wife goes nuts over my grilled salmon with marinade/glaze made of brown sugar, soy sauce, Jack Daniels, ginger, and white pepper. We have it at least once a week.
She also loved the tuna with ginger-cilantro cream sauce that I made for a dinner party once; she’s been nagging me to do it again, but it uses a lot ingredients I don’t usually keep on hand.
As for desserts, my homemade ice cream gets raves, as do the pear-cranberry crisp I make frequently in the winter and my bread pudding with bourbon sauce.
Olentzero: Glad you liked it. To be honest, I do fiddle with the seasonings a bit – for instance, last time I made it, I put some a big pinch or two of red chili flakes with the cooked sausage, and then some dry white wine, and let the wine come to a boil before adding cream (this keeps the cream from curdling). Going out of your way to get the very best possible sausages and a wedge of real parmesano reggiano – like from a good Italian grocer – makes a huge flavor difference, too.
Dammit! Now you’ve got me wanting to make some more, and I promised Mr. Pug it would be two months before I made it again!
I make croissants from scratch. Fifteen years ago i made them for the first time, the day before Easter, for dinner next day. That night my father had a heartattack, and while we were at the hospital, sitting there morose, I went home, got the croissants, butter, napkins, etc, and brought them back. I make them about three times a year, as they are a pain.
I make baklava too. I call it “Kansas style” because I do it with pecans instead of the more classic almonds, pistachios, or walnuts.
