I am going to take this opportunity to start a thread before my posting privileges run out (I do love it here but I feel that I don’t post often enough to warrant subscribing and to be honest I prefer reading to posting) so here is my possible final post:
What is your favourite meal and recipe (if you can be bothered)? I am looking for a wide variety of regional meals that are typical of your geographic area; I am also very keen to find some classic American recipes in order to broaden my repertoire. I know that there is often the ‘correct’ way of cooking a classic regional dish but my cooking style is very experimental so feel free to be as individual as you like just so long as it is based on a regional classic. I really look forward to reading your replies, as I know a lot of you are very keen and talented cooks. I’ll start with one of my own (without a hard and fast recipe as I don’t know the exact weights, measures and temperatures):
Roast chicken flavoured with tarragon and lemon:
I medium sized chicken (preferably free range and corn fed)
1 bunch tarragon, stalks removed (reserve stalks)
3-4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 small onion, quartered
2 lemons
Butter
Fresh chicken stock (amounts depend on the amount of gravy you want)
1 glass dry white wine
Tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper
150ml double cream (optional)
Whatever veg you want to accompany - I choose roast potatoes, parsnips, sweet potatoes also steamed purple sprouting broccoli and sugar snap peas. I sometimes prefer mashed butternut squash to sweet potatoes but I find both are sweetness overkill.
La Recipe:
Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees centigrade. Smear butter all over the chicken and salt and pepper inside and out then fill the cavity with the onion, garlic, tarragon stalks and about a third of the tarragon then squeeze the juice of one lemon over the chicken and stuff the two halves in as well. Roast the chicken according to its weight until it is tender and the juices run clear. Take the chicken out once its cooked and put it on a plate and cover with foil. Pour of the excess fat from the roasting tray and stick it on a burner over a medium heat. Add the flour to the roasting tray and stir in to form a kind of paste then add the glass of wine stirring constantly. Let the alcohol evaporate off then add the stock and remaining tarragon leaves and let the whole lot reduce by about a half or until it has achieved required thickness. Just before serving add the juice of the remaining lemon and the cream if you are adding it. The sauce can be strained if you want but I prefer it ‘rustic’ before pouring into a serving jug and serving with the wonderfully fragrant chicken and the vegetable. Bon appetite!
Awww, come on Will, don’t go yet! There’s loads of sponsors available in ATMB. I’m sure somebody would pony up if you mention that whole McKellen arse grabbing incident.
As to regional dishes, two of my faves are dead common. But they’re good, cheap and easy. insert your own joke here. I don’t have the energy
Tortilla Espanola
Serves 1-2
4 eggs, beaten
1 small potato, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper
any grated strong cheese(optional)
Heat oil in pan over medium high heat.
Add potato and onion, sautee until potato is slightly browned.
Stir contents of pan into bowl containing beaten eggs
Add a dash of salt and pepper to egg mixture
If necessary, add more oil to pan and bring to heat again
Add egg mixture to pan and cook to set on one side, flip it over and cook until set on other side
Serve with optional grated cheese on top.
Rustic Pear Tart
Serves 6
3 ripe pears, peeled, sliced, cored
2 tablespoons sugar (more or less, to taste)
1/2 Tsp Almond extract
Ready made pie crust
Preheat oven to 375F
Mix pears, sugar and almond extract in bowl
Spray baking sheet with non-stick spray and put crust on it
Dump pear mix on crust and fold crust over filling
Bake 15-20 min or until crust is golden brown.
Top with vanilla ice cream, custard sauce or double cream
Caveat: All times and measurements are approximate as I tend to make these from memory.
Thanks for the response Granuaile, I have been sat here waiting for responses (night shift, very bored!) and thought that no-one was gonna bite. I am definatley gonna try the Tortilla Espanola as I love it but have never made it (I had a Spanish friend who would get hassled into doing it) and although I am not really a dessert fan that pear tart looks fantastic, just the sort of thing I would go for so I will try that as well (at least for my girlfriends benefit she has a sweet tooth but can’t cook for toffee so she feels left out).
Also, did you remember that thread? I can barley remember the night (I had had a few ales I must confess)! Ooh, I feel like I have made at least a bit of a mark in my time here…and do people sponsor people to stay? To be honest I should just pay up as I would feel very odd getting someone else to pay for me. It wasn’t really a money thing anyway I just felt that I don’t really offer much to the board and don’t really have the time to make much effort to contribute, it takes me enough time just to read everything before I get into posting!
Unfortunatly I can’t help you out very much with regional specialties, because I have been thinking about it, and to the best of my knowledge there are no regional specialties in Colorado. 
As near as I can tell regional specialties come from unique ingredients(Maine Lobster, New Orleans crawdad boils, Florida Key lime pie) or ethnically traditional foods(Chicago Pierogi, etc.) And Colorado doesn’t have either. Because of our arid climate and high altitude anything that grows or lives here, does better everywhere else. And because of the geographical location no ethnicities got much of a dominating foothold here. The Irish, Germans, Russians, Italians and other Europeans from the east, The hispanic population from the south, and the Asians from the west all got here about the same time, and just kind of melded into general style of cooking using the fairly limited supply of ingrediants available before refridgeration and transportaion. It’s good food, but nothing unique.
Come on! How could anyone forget that thread?
McKellen+arse grabbing= comedy gold!
You’ll be dining out on that story for ages.
Go here. There are plenty of sponsors and proxies. There’s a few posters who will even barter for subscriptions. Don’t be shy.
One more:
Sticky Coconut Rice
1C Jasmine rice
1 tin unsweetened Coconut Cream (13.5 oz)
2-3 Tsp Sugar
Handful of Dessicated Coconut (optional, but nice)
In a heavy pot, mix rice, coconut cream, sugar and 1/2 coconut cream tin of water
Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, for 30 min or until rice is tender.
Rice will thicken on cooling.
Serve with a little of the dessicated coconut on top.
I just took this out of the rice cooker for tonight’s dessert. It will finish the Chicken Satay and Pad Thai perfectly.
I don’t dig on teeth shatteringly sweet puddings either. You can remove the sugar from both recipes and they’ll be just fine.
I think you need to invent a Colarado speciality and start a tradition! This could be your shot at imortality!
Nothing to add, but subscribing in the hope that a Cajun-type Doper will post a recipe for Dirty Rice (I know there’s ground beef, rice, eggplant, onions and a bunch of other good stuff, but I didn’t pay close enough attention or take notes when my grandmother showed me years ago). I’d almost give an appendage to know how she did it.
Tripas (boiled, then pan-fried beef small intestines) , pico de gallo, refried beans, and fresh corn tortillas.
Now banned in the US due to mad cow. Only one restraunt in town is still serving them. I don’t if they’re coming in from Mexico or if they or their supplier had a lot on hand. I hope that they’re coming in from Mexico; I’d hate to be without them. At least I’ll still have beef tongue to fall back on which I can even cook myself.
One of my favorite regional dishes is Philadelphia Pepperpot soup. I’m not from Pennsylvania, but some of my family are, and they introduced me to it. The recipe I use is from The Joy of Cooking. It’s a lot simpler than many of the recipes on the Internet and my relatives say it is very close to what they had.
Here’s one that’s pretty close to what I make, but I use only green peppers.
If you get raw tripe it will need to be cooked for several hours before it can be used in the recipe. I blanch it and then put it in the oven, in a lidded container full of water, at the lowest setting (170 F) overnight.