GARLIC. Add lots of garlic. The key to Jewish-American roast chicken is salt, paprika, and garlic. And it doesn’t matter if your grandma came from Nairobi, Donegal, Istanbul, or Yokohama – Jewish-American roast chicken tastes like grandma food.
This is also good roasted in pieces, because the chicken absorbs more of the salt, paprika, and garlic.
…or just mainline it and make Hungarian chicken paprikas.
Cut up a whole chicken – or use your favorite parts of chicken on the bone – or boneless breasts cut into pieces, which was MY kids’ favorite. Toss in a bag with a half-cup of flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and a tablespoon of paprika.
Sauté in butter until browned on both sides. Remove to a plate and add a chopped onion and a small chopped Hungarian pepper (aka frying pepper, Cubanelle pepper) to the pan, saute until it takes on color, then add a couple of minced garlic cloves and ANOTHER tablespoon of paprika. When it smells nice, pour in a cup of chicken stock.
Bring to a simmer, put the chicken back in, cover and cook 20 minutes for boneless meat, 30-40 minutes for bone-in.
Remove chicken again and stir 1/4 to 1/2 cup of good sour cream into the thickened sauce. Put the chicken back in, stir, and serve.
This is best with FIRST: homemade dumplings; 2) store-bought gnocchi; 3) egg noodles; 4) mashed potatoes; 5) rice.
The Ukulele Lady likes her gravy over steamed cabbage. I like to add sliced mushrooms when I start the onions/peppers, making a sort of Stroganoff/paprikas.
These recipes and tips are awesome! Thanks to all for your help 
This isn’t a recipe but more like an idea for you to try.
My favorite dish my Mom would make is really simple. She would make her homemade stuffing (that unfortunately I don’t have the recipe for as but I can tell you it contained a loaf of white toast, eggs, onions and celery and tons of spices). Then she would put the stuffing in a rolled up chicken breast, season it and roast it. It was away for us to have her stuffing, which our family loved, without having to wait for a holiday.
Not so much a recipe as a method: I’ve yet to meet a vegetable that isn’t improved by roasting it. Roasting sweetens and intensifies the flavor. Could not be easier, and it cooks while you’re doing the rest of the meal. Cut whatever you like into bite sized pieces, toss it with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast at 425ish, stirring it up once or twice, until they’re as tender as you like them and a bit browned on the edges. The time will vary by the vegetable and size, but start checking at 15 minutes and you may have to go to 35 for really hard dense stuff like potatoes.
Vegetables I’ve tried that this works with:
Potatoes (white, red, sweet, purple)
Turnips
Beets
Parsnips (my new favorite vegetable)
Carrots
Brussels Sprouts
Squash
Zuchinni/Summer squash
Chayote
Green Beans
Broccoli
Cauliflower (OMG yum! and I thought I didn’t like cauliflower)
Onions
Bell pepper/poblano peppers/banana peppers
Cabbage
Mix and match or do singles. As you get comfortable with the technique, add fresh or dried herbs of your choice. Garlic, Rosemary or Thyme play well with a lot of these. Or use a Cajun blend, Italian bland, Chinese 5 spice, etc. to match your main course.
I’m going to have to go to recipe trading jail for forgetting garlic. What was I thinking?
Funny…you don’t LOOK Jewish…
(This is an extremely old joke and I swear to god I’m not a racist anti-Semite…)
Cut the acidity in spaghetti sauce by adding diced carrots and celery. I was amazed at how well it works. I’m bad at linking, but the New York Times cookie recipe is wonderful.
Since we’re sharing fail-safe, delicious and easy roast chicken recipes, this one is my favorite:
2-3 TB olive oil
1 whole 4-5 lb. chicken, rinsed and dried, inside and out
1 head of garlic, separated into cloves but not de-skinned
3-4 unpeeled red potatoes, cut into a large dice
rosemary to taste (I usually use about 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons)
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1 whole lemon, halved
Preheat oven to 375F.
Inside of chicken: sprinkle some salt, pepper and rosemary. Crumble 1 bay leaf. Halve 2 garlic cloves and place inside. Don’t bother trussing, just fold the wings back underneath the back.
Take your largest oven-safe skillet (mine is 5 quarts) and heat the olive oil to just below smoking.
Add whole chicken beginning breast side down and allow to brown. Take your time. Everything will be spitting and maybe even smoking, but don’t worry about that. Turn on the fan!
While breast is browning, sprinkle salt, pepper and more rosemary on the back side. When chicken releases from the pan, flip it onto its back and brown that side, sprinkling breast with salt, pepper and rosemary.
While the back side browns, add garlic cloves around the whole chicken and give them a quick stir to coat with olive oil. Then add diced potatoes and do the same thing. Add a bit more olive oil to coat potatoes well, if necessary, as well as more salt and pepper to taste.
Turn off burner heat under the pan. Crumble the second bay leaf over the chicken. Then squeeze lemon halves over the chicken and potatoes. If you’re fussy, squeeze the lemon halves through a sieve to catch the pips.
Stuff the expired lemon halves into the chicken carcass.
Transfer the whole pan to the oven and roast for about an hour and a quarter, or until juices run clear at the thigh when pierced.
Easy, gorgeous enough for guests and delicious. Serve with good bread and squeeze the roasted whole garlic cloves onto the bread for a special spread. I just add a nice side salad and good white wine to make dinner complete.
Or diced green apple and/or a smidge of molasses. You won’t be able to detect either as a separate ingredient but they’ll enrich the plain old tomato sharpness wonderfully.
But that’s just mirepoix or soffrito (‘cos you’re already starting with onions, right?). When would you not start a tomato-based spaghetti sauce without them?
Celery in spaghetti sauce? Blasphemy.
I used to use grated carrots, but I’ve gotten lazy in my middle age and just add a teaspoon of sugar.
I can leave out the trussing? Genius!
Yeah, this is a fantastic roast chicken recipe. Super-simple. I made it for my family on Saturday, as I do a half-dozen times a year, and then made easy stock (the carcass, a few quarts of water, a couple carrots, a stalk of celery, a quartered onion, salt, and a couple bay leaves, simmered for a few hours), and made chicken noodle soup last night.
The world, I am convinced, has a major divide between people who think chicken noodle soup comes from a can, and those who think it’s homemade. I was in the first category until about five years ago, didn’t know why people got excited over chicken noodle soup. Making it from scratch was one of the great epiphanies of my life. Easy, and so flippin good.
Another fairly easy recipe that vastly improves over stuff from a kit: Alton Brown’s stovetop mac 'n cheese. It takes maybe ten minutes longer than doing it from a box, and is ridiculously better.
By the way, the bit where it says “discard the onion”? DO IT. I thought “Mmm…onion stewed in tomato sauce. It’s gotta be good.” but it’s not. The onion tastes disgusting after the cooking.
The sauce freezes very well, by the way.
I’ve always tossed it, too, but the comments on that recipe make me want to at least try it next time.
Super easy roast beef:
[ul]
[li]2.5-3 lb eye round[/li][li]Olive oil[/li][li]Salt[/li][li]Pepper[/li][li]Garlic powder[/li][li]Onion powder[/li][li]Red pepper flakes[/li][/ul]
(these are just the seasonings I like; you can use whatever you want, but I would recommend at least salt and pepper)
[ol]
[li]Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.[/li]
[li]Rinse and pat dry the meat.[/li]
[li]Rub oil over entire roast.[/li]
[li]Liberally coat roast with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes.[/li]
[li]Place roast in roasting pan, fat side up.[/li]
[li]Roast in oven for 5 minutes/pound.[/li]
[li]After that time has passed, turn the oven off and walk away. Do anything else for at least 1.5 hours besides mess with the oven; do not open the door, do not turn on the light, leave it completely alone.[/li]
[li]After 1.5 hours return and check for doneness, hopefully with a meat thermometer. May require more time depending on how you like it done. 1.5 hours should produce a perfectly medium rare roast (it does in my oven, at least).[/li][/ol]
Also, and this is completely unrelated to the roast beef above, but a quick lunch my mother used to make for me:
Fry an egg sunny-side-up or over easy (any egg prep with a runny yolk will work), then just drop it on top of a bowl of rice with a spoonful of oyster sauce.
Sometimes, if she wanted to go the extra mile, mom would make egg drop soup to go with it:
[ul]
[li]15 oz can chicken broth[/li][li]1 egg, beaten[/li][li]Corn starch, about 1 tsp[/li][li]Soy Sauce[/li][li]Sesame oil[/li][li]Scallion/chives[/li][/ul]
[ol]
[li]Bring the chicken broth to a simmer.[/li]
[li]Add a dash or two each of the soy sauce and sesame oil.[/li]
[li]Mix the corn starch with a little water.[/li]
[li]Add the corn starch and water to the broth.[/li]
[li]Add the beaten egg into the broth (I pour it slowly over a fork).[/li]
[li]Top with cut scallions/chives.[/li][/ol]
Some all-time favorites I’ve already posted elsewhere:
Lamb with a mustard glaze: Best mustard glaze for lamb - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Silver Palate mashed potatoes: Silver Palate mashed potatoes - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Lemon Ahead Cake (post 30 here): Help me plan a Game of Thrones dinner! - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Carnahan Ginger Drops (post 17 here): Tasty, easy cookie recipes - would you like to share? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
For years my family has been trying to replicate the macaroni and cheese we used to get at theHorn & Hardart’s Automat on Broad Street in Philadelphia. There are a bunch of facsimile recipes out there now. I’ve tried most of them and the best, IMO, is here.
My tweaks to it are below. Mine is better. 
Horn & Hardart’s Macaroni and Cheese
1 box (16 oz) Ziti noodles
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white wine
2 tablespoons half & half
8 oz sharp (Vermont or New York) white cheddar cheese, shredded
1/3 cup canned tomatoes, diced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3-4 Tbs bread crumbs
white pepper to taste
dash of paprika
Hey koeeoaddi, have you ever used sodium citrate to create a cheese sauce instead of cheesing up a bechamel? I only ask because I’ve found sharp cheddars tend to “break” the sauce much easier than younger cheddars when going the bechamel route. Using sodium citrate pretty much allows you to use any cheese without the worry, it’s completely changed the way I do Mac N Cheese.
Side note: why a Vermont or New York Cheddar? Our recent sweep at the US. Cheese Championships and being home to the Best Cheese In The World would suggest a Wisconsin Cheddar might also be acceptable. 
This is a bit of work, but pretty easy and way tasty.
Lamb Kofta (or kofte)
The amount of spices used is up to the cook, but these are very strong flavors, so caution is advised. I would recommend about ½ tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg and perhaps a teaspoon of cumin to start.
1 lb ground lamb
½ cup chopped mint (cilantro can also be used)
Grated nutmeg
Ground cinnamon
Ground cumin
¼ cup pine nuts
½ cup chopped onion
Salt & pepper
½ cup bread crumbs
1 egg
Olive oil
Sweat onion in olive oil or butter until nearly translucent. Add the pine nuts and the spices and cook for about two minutes. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl, taking care not to overwork the mixture. Form the kebabs into 2” logs by squeezing a small amount of the mixture in your fist just until it holds together. They’ll basically look like turds. Place the kebabs on a plate and chill for a couple of hours.
Heat a bit of olive oil in a large skillet at medium heat. When hot, fry the kebabs in the pan until well-browned and cooked through. Turn frequently, but carefully. Remove and drain excess fat. Serve with saffron rice.
Saffron Rice
1 cup Basmati or Jasmine rice
Cooking water, per package instructions
½ cup raisins
1 generous pinch of saffron
1 tsp salt
¼ cup sliced almonds
Butter
Wash the rice well. Place in cold water along with the raisins, saffron, salt and about a tablespoon of butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until done, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, lightly toast the almonds in a tablespoon of butter and set aside. When the rice is done, add the almonds and serve with kebabs. Makes about 2-3 cups rice.