What's your "go to" dish for a potluck?

Cafe Society
21

Depends -

Cold I make Russian Potato Salad.

Hot I make one of several different things:

Crock Pot Pierogies - layer cooked lasagna noodles, sauteed shredded cabbage, mashed potatoes, onions sauteed in butter several layers deep, ending with sauteed onions.

Crock Pot Beef Bourguinon - more or less the Julia Child recipe.

Desserts - I make baklava either tree nut or peanut version. [I have a friend who is allergic to tree nuts, so I made her a peanut version that ended up being surprisingly popular]

When I was doing a meal for about 40 assorted people, I provided kosher vegan ‘minestrone’ [virgin 5 gallon pot, knife, cutting board and ladle. Homemade from assorted dried beans, onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, herbs, salt, pepper, assorted spices] and provided on the side cooked TVP chunks, cooked slices of keilbasa, cooked boneless skinless chicken, cooked diced ham, sauteed cubanelle peppers to be added in for protein. I also made bread, ‘antipasta’ of frozen broccoli and cauliflower florettes, sliced red onion, black olives, marinated artichoke hearts and rinsed canned butterbeans in a zesty italian dressing, had a fairly generic tossed salad of iceberg and romaine with baby spinach and that multipack of salad dressing from BJ’s Wholesale Club [zesty italian, ranch and can’t remember offhand what the third one was, french maybe?] I pucked up a bunch of fruit for dessert - apples, grapes, bananas and oranges.

Oddly enough, hauling everything to Pennsic was more work than getting it on the table - as long as I had a firepit to cook the soup on, everything else was all premade. Reheating the proteins went fairly quickly as they were all precooked and sealed in boil in bag sealer bags and got dumped into a pot of hot water to reheat, then poured out into their bowls.

22

I have two favorites that I alternate between:

  1. An Asian shredded cabbage/crunchy top ramen noodle/slivered almond salad; or

  2. Chicken wings, with a spicy teriyaki coating instead of the classic Buffalo coating.

Both are usually big hits.

23

The original recipe also called for a 5 oz jar of Kraft Pineapple cheese but no Worchestire sauce - that spread hasn’t been around for like 20 years around here, though - so it got modified through the ages. I wonder if it would work with a little bit of crushed pineapple? Naw. Screw it.

I don’t want to mess with perfection. Back when the pineapple spread stuff WAS available, my mom would chill it, form it into a ball, and then roll it in chopped nuts. It was company appetizers. Me, I don’t have the energy. Putting it in a bowl and just eating it works pretty well for us. :smiley:

24

In the fall/winter, when my Key lime tree is in season, I usually bring a Key Lime Pie. It’s always well received, and so easy to make.

25

I have pretty much settled in as the Deviled Egg Queen at most of the potlucks I go to. Since most of them are at my church, it is expected of me now, and it is very sad to see my eggs get snarfled down immediately (so much so that I usually bring a separate containerful for me and my brother and other family members) and someone else’s eggs just sit there. Especially the one poor woman who had doctored hers up and they were slightly…green. Saw a lot of them on plates heading for the trash, with one little bite taken!

When I need to make something different, my go-to’s are au gratin potatoes, a pepperoni pizza casserole that we served at my sister’s wedding, a frozen Key Lime pie, or cheesecake. Once in a great while I make Curried Couscous (from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook) and years ago the popular dish was a spinach-rice salad I haven’t thought of in years! If it is an appetizer potluck, then I go a bit crazy, but usually my own version of the Caramelized Onion-Feta Tarts that they sell at Trader Joes for some outrageous price…$5.99 for a tray of twelve, I think? I can whip up 48 of those suckers for under $5. In fact, I have a pan of them in the freezer from the last CleveDopeFest and I’m starving right now…

26

If I can bring a salad, then spinach with strawberries and almond slivers with a poppy seed dressing.

For an appy, I’ll do stuffed spinach stuffed mushroom caps which are good at room temperature.

For a side I’ll do ratatouille, basically a veggie casserole with tomatoes, onions, zucchini, etc. topped with grated parmesan.

Dessert is trifle (when I can get fresh berries, which is most of the year nowadays).

Sensing a theme? Most potlucks are heavy on the starch and light on fruit and veg, so my dishes tend to be veggie or fruit centric.

27

Usually fruit. Some kind of fun salad (I’m a fan of the watermelon/feta/mint combo) or else berries and really nice yogurt for something dessert-ish.

28

I usually make Texas Caviar and serve with tortilla chips.'you can also pile it into tortillas and eat cold. I also make a southwestern pasta salad, which has corn, peppers and chili powder in the dressing. Both I started making when I was vegetarian but with the pasta salad you can add cubed cold chicken.

I’ll also cut up a bunch of fresh fruit if I suspect a starch blowout. I started that back when I had small children and knew they would at least eat pieces of cantaloupe and berries.

29

Black bean, avocado, red onion and mango salad. Add cilantro, salt and pepper, olive oil and lime juice. Chill. Yummy as a side dish or dip.

30

“The Devil’s Own Deviled Eggs”

Stuffed with baby shrimp and prepared horseradish. :smiley:

31

Update: The pepperoni and cheese rolls just came out of the oven, and we sampled the ugly ones. The Boy is currently trying to convince me that they’re all too ugly to serve. Middlest Girl is torn between defending their aesthetic quality, since she helped stuff them, and weighing in with her brother, so she can have seconds, thirds, and fourths. They’re quite good, if I say so myself. I think this one is a keeper, especially since the ingredients are usually on hand in my house.

For the reunion, the Boy suggested I make a batch of the meatballs I made for the family Easter picnic, as they were snarfed up like lollipops at a rave. I think he has the right idea, because they’re simple as heck: just frozen meatballs heated with a good jarred barbecue sauce. I can take them in the crockpot to keep warm until lunchtime. (That was a dish born of desperation, since, at the time, the Husband was almost a complete invalid, and I was running myself ragged trying to keep up with everything from PTA to ailing dog to IV drugs and wound care. I had frozen meatballs, I had an oven, and I had 5 minutes.)

Ma will bring a ham, so I’ll probably make some macaroni and cheese, some fresh bread, maybe a nice fruit and yogurt salad. I’ll probably get creative with dessert: I’m envisioning something like a classic banana pudding, but more tropical, with coconut and pineapple, and using Murray’s coconut wafers instead of Nillas.

32

I’m coming with you. :smiley:

33

Damn Yankees indeed. I brought some to work in Minnesota (aka Southern Canada) and they ooh’d and ahh’d. When I told them there was coconut milk involved, it blew their minds. Well, to view things from their perspective, the idea of lutefisk blows my mind.

34

Similarly,I had no idea that perogies were in the world until a northern grocery chain opened here a few years ago and they carry them frozen.

35

I prefer to make this macaroni and cheese, but potlucks often specifically ask me to bring vegetables or “just bring another dessert”. Dammit, I want to bring mac and cheese.

36

Madame P. takes baked mac & cheese with bechamel sauce. Yum! If it’s dessert, then she’d better bring her French Silk pie or we will hear about it.

37

Hey! You took my post! :stuck_out_tongue:

38

Was deviled eggs a long time ago but they’re so much of a pain in the ass to do in quantity I only do them now if someone really begs or I owe them a favor.

Now it’s Scalloped Potatoes Baked in Cream from Julia Child’s The Way To Cook.

Much easier, but you do need a mandoline of some sort. Not really a summertime dish, though.

39

That’s the funniest damn thing I’ve read all week.:smiley:
I just picture a bunch of white people standing around staring into a crockpot in bewilderment.

I cant believe no one has thrown out the old meatballs with ketchup and grape jelly thing that shows up at pretty much every church dinner.

40

If there’s time, I grill or BBQ something finger foodish.
Good ones are wings, drumsticks, individual ribs, cheese-stuffed-bacon-wrapped jalapenos.
Last weekend, I made a batch of my lamb ‘gyros’ which I stuffed into some colorful mini bell pepper halves with some feta and grilled over lump charcoal. I can’t wait to make these again for sharing at a party.

If there isn’t time to cook, I’ll sometimes make a tray of cold cuts and sliced cheese from the deli which works out pretty well.
Capicola, salami, roast beef, chicken or turkey, maybe even some prosciutto.