I will put up my cheesecake against the OP’s.
Now we have two cheesecakes!
Cheesecake is best in pairs.
My gravelax is awesome.
On my way over, Zipper. 
Mine is pepper-cheese bread, minestrone soup and strawberry-rhubarb pie.
*I also make a mean mac & cheese based on the old Horn and Hardart’s Automat recipe.
Kick-Off Chicken Nuggets, with a fresh potato kugel on the side.
You’ll wonder how you’ll ever enjoy a different meal ever again.
Chili, wings, roasted chicken, frittatas or omelets, flank steak, burgers, and chicken and dumplings.
My husband makes a mean pulled pork–the seasoning is mine, but he’s in charge of the 18-hour smoke.
It’s probably not bad in threes either. Someone should step up with another cheesecake. For Science!
Ooh I’ll take that for dinner.
My Kosher Chicken Matzo Ball Soup With Orzo and a Touch of Lemon will drag your nose into chicken heaven and send all your germs running for cover. But I need at least a day to let it sit and develop the proper flavor.
If you show up on a weekend morning I’ll take you for the best Chinese dim sum west of NYC’s Chinatown. Gleaming miniature pork buns, fresh scallion pancakes, shrimp in translucent wrappers with snow peas, perfectly cooked sticky rice all in one place.
as scrumptious as eggs Conti sound, I would like to know more about Garlic Souffle. Googling a recipe sent me in too many directions. Is yours of the gruyere sort or the cream of celery soup variety?
Ooh - I have all the ingredients for a potato kugel. Yummm.
I have never landed on a specialty. It causes me sadness that I don’t entertain more. I love to cook. For main courses I tend to play it pretty safe; roast something, a stew or chili (I’ve made a white bean chicken chili a few times that’s been well received but I’d hardly call it a specialty).
I like to pull out all the stops for dessert - but don’t often repeat.
Two of my greatest moments of culinary pride occurred over 15 years ago. A few months after my first wedding I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my husband’s parents and one of his brothers. The dinner was textbook but (pardon my saying so) well executed. I’d heard my new f-i-l say he loved chocolate and hazelnuts so I chose a dessert with both (a dacquoise, if that matters) which also turned out well. While I served it my husband told how much trouble it had been to skin from the toasted hazelnuts (“just rub gently with a clean dish towel” MY EYE!) His brother turned to me and said, with his first bite still in his mouth, “Wait a minute, you MADE this???” Two days later we were guests at the home of the brother who’d spent Thanksgiving with his wife’s family. While we were still heading up the front walk the door swung open and I was greeted with,not “Hello” or “Happy Thanksgiving”, but “I hear you can COOK!”
Every time I feed guests I try and top that.
Well, last night we had braised leg of lamb, sauteed fresh-picked Swiss chard and herbed rice.
Chocolate mousse for dessert!
I make a killer cassoulet d’isigny - though I do a confit of chicken thighs, kielbasa top layer, and inside leftover duck, leftover roast beef and leftover leg of lamb with the beans layers, and I line the casserole dish with thick cut artisanal bacon from Salem Meats. I prefer to bake it in my wood stove, but in a pinch and when it is not winter I use the regular kitchen stove. I prefer a nice potato bread to go with it, a tossed salad with mrAru’s homemade balsamic vinegar/olive oil vinaigrette and some sort of fruit for dessert.
It is a cheesey-garlicky cloud. 
Roasted-Garlic Soufflé
3 large heads garlic, left whole, plus 3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 medium onion, sliced
3 large thyme sprigs plus 1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 California bay leaf or 2 Turkish
1 whole clove
1/8 teaspoon black peppercorns
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, separated, plus 4 additional egg whites
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 cup grated Gruyère (2 ounces)
Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.
Trim 1/4 inch from tops of whole heads of garlic, then put heads on a large sheet of foil and drizzle each with 1 teaspoon oil. Wrap heads together in foil and roast until very tender, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool to warm, then squeeze garlic from skins.
Meanwhile, bring milk, smashed garlic cloves, onion, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, clove, and peppercorns just to a boil in a medium saucepan, then remove from heat and cover. Let steep 30 minutes.
Butter a 12-inch oval (2-quart) gratin dish with 1 tablespoon butter, then sprinkle bottom and side with bread crumbs and chill until ready to use.
Melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter in a heavy medium saucepan and whisk in flour. Cook roux over low heat, whisking constantly, 5 minutes.
Strain milk mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, then add to roux, whisking until smooth. Bring to a boil, whisking, then simmer béchamel, whisking, 3 minutes. Remove from heat and vigorously whisk in yolks 1 at a time. Whisk in roasted garlic, parmesan, nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and transfer to a bowl.
Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt using an electric mixer until they just hold stiff peaks, then stir one third of egg whites into yolk mixture. Fold in Gruyère, then remaining whites. Transfer mixture to gratin dish, smoothing top, and sprinkle with thyme leaves.
Bake soufflé until set and browned on top, 20 to 25 minutes.
I yield to garlicky superiority. My lasagna only begins with one large head of garlic.
Thank you SO much for posting that. It sounds wonderful.
I will definitely be trying this recipe in the next few weeks.
That sounds quite yummy. We are doing cheese fondue tonight, but we will do it next weekend for sunday brunch.
In our house it’s all about the smoker. If I was trying to impress you we’d start out with Brie on the smoker with either apple or cherry smoke and move on to a prime rib. The butcher we started using about a year ago cuts off the bones and fat and then tie them back on so we’ve started untying it, seasoning under the fat and then tying it all back up again. Amazingly tasty.
Dessert would depend on the day and any preferences you have but I guarantee that I’d research, test cook and come up with the perfect tasting (almost never perfect looking) option.
The bread recipe, please. I have access to a bread machine.
I’d love to know how to make a non-Concord grape pie.
My specialty? Gah, I’m kinda rusty from laziness.
Hmmm let me think.
In winter either Beef bourguignon with home made bread to sop up all that yummy gravy or roast chicken with roasted garlic and herbs shoved between the skin and the breast with roasted veggies. If the weather is nice on the pork side I also do an amazing pork loin marinated with balsamic vinegar and apricot preserves that I serve with a carmelized onion and wine & splash of cream sauce. mr ems grills amazing pork ribs with a spicy chipotle dry rub that we have with mamaw’s green beans aka mr ems mom’s family recipe which involves bacon, onion, garlic and heavy whipping cream or my roasted green chili mac & cheese or hatch chili grilled polenta with shrimp.
I am not much of a desert person but I do have a relly good pecan pie recipe or if they were available I would grill some nectarines and drizzle with balsamic brown sugar glaze with vanilla ice cream.
I love to cook and we love having people over.
And now I am starving.
We’re simple folk, so in the summer I would buy our local snappy casing frankfurters and throw them on the grill, alongside links of hot Italian sausage. (I would skewer sliced onions and peppers marinated in Italian dressing to go with.) Salad? How about a selection from the Mediterranean olive bar? A selection of olives, little pickled onions, chunks of feta, peppadews, and stuffed grape leaves. Steamed little new redskin potatoes and corn on the cob, too. Can’t forget the watermelon! Blue Moon beer, or iced tea. Dessert? My own home-made chocolate ice cream and blond brownies…If I really liked you, I would recreate my finest meal, in the same vein, namely a ton of steamed king crab legs (courtesy of The Deadliest Catch guys :)), with the potatoes and corn, awash with melted butter and lemon wedges. Pinot Grigio or iced tea to wash it down. And caesar salad and French bread. Dessert? Milky Way Bar pound cake with my own home-made vanilla ice cream.
Roast according to the cooking directions my grandmother gave me.
Real mashed potatoes and brown gravy. I’ve only lately mastered the gravy, it has been a weak spot in my meals.
Absolutely fresh tossed salad, with garden-ripened tomatoes. The other veggies should be as fresh, cold, and crisp as possible.
Homebaked bread. I love all kinds, but my favorite is James Beard’s recipe for challah.
For dessert it’s a three way tie. Rhubarb pie, apple pie, or baklava. If I do say so myself I do all three pretty damned well.