What is your own personal "signature dish"?

[NulloModo]

I'd say I am probably most known for my Cincinatti style chili. It is a blend of a skyline style chili with a vindaloo spice mix, served up over roasted peppers (instead of the pasta, chili and pasta just don't go together in my mind) with heaping amounts of cheddar and sour cream overtop. It is filling, comforting, smokey, spicey, and well, just perfect food for when you are with a bunch of friends and don't want to deal with pretension.

[rooftop1000]

Most of my parties revolve around pork butt summer its properly done outside winter it goes in the crockpot with a bottle of Franks hot sauce and brown sugar....shred back in the crock with some of the "juice" and bbq sauce.

I just love how my family wonders how I get all of Easter dinner on the table hot at one time.... same every year Baked ham, Lasagna, grilled asparagus zucchini eggplant and sweet onions, Grilled spicy leg of lamb....ya should have seen the looks when I said it was time to start the lamb as I pulled out the lasagna the first year.....25 min on the grill people.... the lasagna has to rest....grill and plate veggies on saturday and just reheat in the nuker on the serving plate....lasagna out biscuits in...

wish my grandma still cooked she knew how to do all this stuff

T

[phifly04]

For home cooking the biggest request i get is for my sauteed chicken breast with brandy mustard cream sauce and mashed roasted cauliflower .followed by pineapple upside down cake

dave s

[Chris Amirault]

What a great question (as usual, GG!).

To your definition of a signature dish, I'd add that one can make it without a recipe (is that fair?).

I think that people who regularly eat at my house would say fried chicken, but the dish I most enjoy making for people that I can make without a recipe -- and that I can vary pretty widely depending on what I can get my hands on -- is gumbo.

Both served with corn bread, of course.

[rosebud]

It's so hard to pick just one. I have become reknown around here for my cheesecakes. I also make a fabulous tiramisu, a cesar salad (no matter how much I make, it all disappears), and lately Masitas de Puerco. The list goes on.

[KatieLoeb]

My award winning Turkey, Black Bean and Chorizo chili.

Shots of Limoncello after dinner.

[jgm]

I think it would have to be my beef stew, or what others might call vegetable beef soup. It's based on the beef stew recipe in Joy of Cooking.

[Chufi]

First, some prawns cooked in garlic & chili olive oil. The prawns are cooked in the oven while swimming around in a pool of this oil. The oil gets the most fabulous taste.. you eat the prawns and then eat all the oil with good bread (if I have the day off, I will bake the bread myself).

After that, the easiest and tastiest roast chicken: Marcella Hazan's chicken with lemons. Served with bunches of watercress and a bowl of roast green beans in balsamic vinaigrette. Maybe some polenta gnocchi on the side in case you have a really big appetite.

Dessert.. I would love to make my lethal chocolate cake, but after the prawns and the chicken, that would indeed be dangerous. So instead something fruity.. in winter, quinces in red wine jelly. In summer, raspberries crushed with a little whipped cream and meringues.

[origamicrane]

in my circle of friends i am known as sushi-sam

try to guess what my signature dish is

[Syrah]

ok, the winter dish I do most often is my variation on my MIL's very bavarian steak and pasta.

steak fillets served medium rare with a good crust, side of farfalle pasta, both covered in dijon mustard cream sauce made with pan drippings and a good covering of grated parmigiano reggiano.  Salad depends on the season, but my favorite is arugula with heirloom tomatoes, basil, garlic and a basalmic vinaigrette.

I can make so many things that are more interesting than this, and I can even pair the salad course better than stated above,  but this is the husband's favorite comfort food.

←

That sounds really delicious. Certainly a warming winter meal.

[thursdaynext]

Crawfish Etouffe.

[Luckylies]

pulled pork or shortribs. yum.

[Kevin72]

The meal I can count on to consistently please:

Chicken Putanesca

Sweet and Sour Eggplant

Stuffed Artichokes

Cannoli

[moosnsqrl]

cracked pepper pappardelle w/mushroom confit...and thanks for bringing it up, now we'll be eating dinner at 11:00 on a Monday night by the time I get home from work and make it!

[Toliver]

A quasi-"Scallops Fettucine Alfredo". It's often requested by my brothers for their birthday dinners.

I have no idea how I came up with the recipe. I think I had been inspired by my oldest brother (aka to my family as the Black Sheep Gourmet) who has the uncanny talent of making gourmet meals out of whatever he finds in the cupboards or refrigerator. So I just experimented and came up with a winner.

[daniellewiley]

I always have to make my salad. Often, when going to eat at our friends' house, I bring all of my supplies, so I can make it just right. I smash garlic in our giant wooden bowl with fleur du sel. Then, I add Maille Dijon mustard, sherry vinegar and EVOO. The following ingredients are optional:

- capers (added with the mustard)

- olives (added with the mustard)

- cheese (added with the lettuce)

Once the dressing is mixed, I add the rest of the ingredients. Always cucumber and lettuce. I also love to add garbanzos, radish, and lately, celery.

[reesek]

oh i want recipes for all this stuff...andie - i'm on my way...right after i swing by chufi's. whew.

i love this topic. my cooking is seasonal too, so in addition to whatever else i feel like serving you,

in spring you'd get my fresh pea soup with mint and crab

in summer you'd get caprese salad featuring tomatoes and basil from my garden or a fresh raviolo with the same

in fall you'd be served a plum or apple crisp with fruit from our trees

in winter you'd eat my onions and thyme.

but no matter what, you keep asking me to make potato pancakes...vegans, the lactose intolerant and carnivores alike clamor for my original horseradish tofu sauce as an accompaniment, but i might also serve them with herby creme fraiche and smoked salmon.

[arjay]

Chicken fried steak with cream gravy.

[*Deborah*]

Chicken fried steak with cream gravy.

←

Oh, if I could make that, I'd weigh 500 lbs.

Memories of American truck stops...

[Gifted Gourmet]

i love this topic. my cooking is seasonal too, so in addition to whatever else i feel like serving you,

←

I can see how one's signature dish actually revolves around the seasonal aspect ...

and the potato pancakes with 'herby creme fraiche' and smoked salmon sounds like my kind of meal .. any season!! Thanks for this post, reesek!

[Really Nice!]

Simple green salad mixed with EVO, red onion, and a blend of 10 year-old and 100 year-old balasamic vinegar drizzled on top; pan roasted rack of lamb with Escoffier 4175 (Pommes Anna for garnishing), and veal stock reduction; crème brûlée.

Wine: Penfolds Grange

←

Wow, I like a host that serves Grange to their guests!!! How about if I cook for you and you bring the wine

←

I made that menu a few years back for an Australian friend who was visiting the States and had never even been able to see a bottle of Grange close up back in Oz due to its short supply there. I think I served the 1981 vintage.

He still talks about that dinner to this day.

[Toasted]

For me "signature dish" means something I've made so many times that I can't screw it up. Two possibilities depending on the season:

Winter: Grilled polenta with wild mushrooms in a brandy cream sauce and sauteed fresh spinach on the side.

Summer: Marinated grilled tofu, grilled asparagus, couscous with fresh fruit, herbs, and toasted nuts, and a fresh fruit salad with crushed mint from the garden.

Lots of wine too- these "get-to-gethers" make me a little anxious.

[slkinsey]

To me the concept, or the term, “Signature Dishes” means the dishes for which I am "known" or identified with .. what I am most proud of ...

This is an interesting question. I thought it would be an easy one for me, but it isn't. In my mind, my "signature dish" would be the sort of thing where people would say, "you just have to have slkinsey's _______" or "when I think of slkinsey's cooking, _________ comes to mind." And I'm not sure I really have a signature dish. Or rather, maybe I do have one, but I'm not the person to answer that question.

[Bernaise]

Zuppa Inglese

even though it varies by season and fruit - I always use fresh and tasty berries/cherries/peaches/mandarins etc.. I used to use jam but switched to a triple fruit spread like apricot. People tell me they dream about it years after they have eaten it I am constantly begged for it because of the fact that I use a generous 1-2 inch layer of pastry cream made with 10% cream and a generously flufly layer of whipped cream and plenty plenty plenty marsala

Mock Thai steak salad

marinated flank steak -nam pla, soy, chili, cocnut milk, lemongrass, ginger garlic etc etc. Briefly grilled and sliced -served on greens with lots of frisee and the marinade reduced and now a sauce that bathes it all. Once had a friend arrive at 1am after work because tehy knew I was serving it for dinner

[JohnN]

I am coming to your home for the very first time and have an interest in gourmet cooking and dining.

What is your own personal signature dish that you would offer to me?

The ultimate and very best of your repertoire!

I would be absolutely mortified. I'd probably do beef tenerloin roast so I could rely on my thermometer and the food itself to attempt to obfuscate my lack of skill!

-john