What's your signature dish?

[elrohwen]

Treefrog, would you mind sharing your rum cake recipe with me? DH's favorite thing in the world is a rum cake made by this little old cat lady who lives near his grandfather. He wants me to figure out how to make a good one (because little old cat lady isn't going to be around forever), but I need a killer recipe first.

 

[treefrog]

Treefrog, would you mind sharing your rum cake recipe with me? DH's favorite thing in the world is a rum cake made by this little old cat lady who lives near his grandfather. He wants me to figure out how to make a good one (because little old cat lady isn't going to be around forever), but I need a killer recipe first.

I don't mind at all. I'll post it when I get home.

 

[elrohwen]

You're the best! Thanks!

 

[zoebartlett]

Should I feel slighted that no one's requested that I bring something specific to parties?

I usually bring a basic orzo salad or chocolate chip cookies. The chocolate chip cookies are from Tollhouse, but here's my orzo salad "recipe."

1 box of orzo
1 pint of grape or cherry tomatoes
1 can of black olives, drained
1 container of feta
1/2 bag (or whatever amount you want) of baby spinach leaves
1 bottle of Greek salad dressing

Cook the orzo and then drain. Toss the ingredients together in a serving bowl. I always add more dressing to the dish right before serving because I find that otherwise, the pasta soaks up all the dressing and it's kind of hard to taste.

I really need to boost my repertoire!

 

[tyty333]

I dont really have a signature dish but when my in-laws come over my MIL always brings this dish that is like zucchini cornbread.
Its dry and very bland with rounds of zucchini on top . How can you tell someone to stop bringing "their" signature
dish?

 

[Octavia]

It depends on the occasion. When my friends and I have occasions that call for cake (and what occasions don't?!?) I make the 1-2-3-4 cake from The Joy of Cooking and coat it in Italian buttercream frosting, also from TJOC (though I use less butter than the recipe calls for, since I like the frosting to be "fluffier"). Most recently, for our 4th of July party:



Thanksgiving always calls for a homemade pumpkin pie, meaning I select, cook, and puree the pumpkin; whip up a crust, and concoct a blend of spices to cover up the fact that there's no cinnamon in it (hubby hates cinnamon).

At Christmas, my signature dish is Innkeeper Pie, which is a pie crust, thick fudgey layer of chocolate, light sponge cake layer, topped with walnuts. Recipe is here: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/rec...turesearch=true&keyword=innkeeper&rectypecat=.

I don't know that I have any "signature" savory dishes, I like to shake things up a bit!

 

[artdecogirl]

We bring either 7 layer salad or cheesy potatoes and for the holidays they tell us what they want and then will say " and your bringing your pumpkin bars, right?" I double the cream cheese frosting, it's awesome and sooo bad for you.

 

[tigian]

My own version of potato salad (I could live on this stuff)

Southern Living's Best Ever Carrot Cake

Mexican Chocolate Cake

I'm dying for a killer potato salad. Bebe, please???

 

[gemgirl]

That would be my tomato sauce, or gravy as we old fashioned Italians call it. I've never given anyone the recipe I've been using for the last thirty years. Every Italian wife's sauce is particular to her. Everyone loves my sauce and meatballs. My husband's brother, sister and father have asked me for my recipe but I'll never tell.

It really pisses my husband's mother off that everyone likes to eat at our house. Oh the satisfaction!

 

[Blackpaw]

i guess lasagne for me but i havent been to many pot lucks, its more something people ask for when they come to my place...

or chocolate cake if its a dessert situation. I make the cake from scratch but i cheat on the frosty - oh the shame

does anyone like cinnamon tea cake? i love it its my fave cake to make but its not a generally popular one. Although people that try it like it i guess everyone just prefers chocolate and what not. Mostly i just love eating the butter creamed with sugar, eggs and vanilla (im all about the shame today!)

 

[ksinger]

Chocolate Pound Cake

2 ¼ Cup sifted AP flour
¾ Cup dutch process cocoa**
12 Tblsp unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)
2 and 2/3 Cup sugar
2 eggs + 4 egg whites
½ tsp salt
3/8 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp baking powder
2 Tblsp instant coffee
2 tsp vanilla
¾ Cup buttermilk

12 Cup Bundt pan or tube pan or 2 5-Cup loaf pans

Have all ingredients at room temp – eggs, butter, buttermilk
Sift flour. Measure gently into the measuring cups and level with a knife without jiggling or tapping down. Then sift THAT flour again, together with the other dry ingredients, set aside.
Briefly whisk the 2eggs and 4 whites together in a bowl. Set aside.
Dissolve the coffee in 3 tablespoons of hot water. Add this and the vanilla to the buttermilk. Set aside.

Cream the butter for about 1 minute at medium speed to soften. Gradually add the sugar and continue at med-high speed until all sugar is incorporated. Mixture will be crumbly – not smooth. With the mixer running at medium speed, gradually pour in all the eggs, scraping the sides down as needed. Then alternately add some of the flour mixture, mix, then some of the buttermilk buttermilk mixture, mix, etc. The idea is just to alternate them so you don’t add too much dry or too much wet. Mixture may appear curdled – this is OK.

Generously grease and flour pan even if it is a non-stick. Trust me, don’t scrimp, especially if you have a fancy pan with lots of crevices. I do, and I use a pastry brush to apply the shortening. Works great. Pour or spoon in the batter, smoothing the top as necessary. Bake at 350. (If your pan is dark-colored, decrease the temp by 25 degrees.) If using loaf pans, bake 45 – 50 minutes or until cake starts to shrink from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. The bundt pan cake will bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Do not overbake. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Invert onto plate. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serves 20 – 24

Calories per serving: 196
Fat: 7 g
% calories from fat: 31%
protein: 3.1 g
carbohydrates 32.4 g
cholesterol 33.4 mg

**NOTE: Around the holidays I make this cake a lot. I will spend an evening having a measuring fest. I make 2 baggies per cake – one with all the dry ingredients except the sugar and the coffee powder, and one with the sugar. Basically I make cake mixes. The only thing is I make sure I use it within a couple or three weeks because I don’t think the power of the baking soda or powder lasts all that long. Anyway, it’s a great time saver and you have it ready (except for the wet stuff) for a quick cake for a party or office thing. Also, this recipe will do just fine with regular cocoa, but for the really dark, rich version the dutch process cocoa is miles ahead in flavor. I use Pernigotti cocoa, or better yet, Valrhona. You can get it at Williams Sonoma. It’s not inexpensive but it truly gives a superior cake.

 

[treefrog]

Treefrog, would you mind sharing your rum cake recipe with me? DH's favorite thing in the world is a rum cake made by this little old cat lady who lives near his grandfather. He wants me to figure out how to make a good one (because little old cat lady isn't going to be around forever), but I need a killer recipe first.

Treefrog's Rum Cake

Cake
18.5 oz box of yellow cake mix (Not the kind with pudding mixed in. I use Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe in Butter Recipe Golden.)
3.75 oz vanilla pudding mix (I often use french vanilla)
4 eggs
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup rum
Sample rum and make sure it is ok. Then, mix all cake ingredients together. Grease the bundt pan. If you want to add chopped pecans or walnuts, sprinkle them into the bundt pan before adding cake mix. If not, pour cake mix into bundt pan. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. While baking, sample the rum again to make sure it's still ok. You just never know! Let the cake cool slightly. Glaze once cool.

Glaze
1/4 pound butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup rum
Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. You can sample the rum again but you may forget to stir. Remove from heat. Add rum. If the glaze bubbles, have a glass of rum for a minute while it cools a little more.

Using a fork or skewer, poke holes in the cake (this will be the bottom once it comes out of the bundt pan) and slowly spoon some of the glaze onto it. Let it sit a minute and repeat a few times. Put your serving plate on top of the bundt pan (what will be the bottom of the rum cake) and carefully rotate and remove bundt pan. Now, gently pierce the top and sides of cake. Slowly spoon glaze over the cake. It will take a while for the cake to soak up the glaze so enjoy your favorite rum drink while doing this. Many passes will be necessary or the glaze will simply run off. Repeat until all glaze is absorbed.

I only use Tortuga Gold rum. I had to have a liquor store special order it but it isn't expensive and it's so worth it. The rum will make a huge difference in the taste. Don't use a light rum. The cake will be very moist. I must warn you that you will be asked to make it again and again. It freezes well and seems to only get better with age.

Treefrog

 

[PilsnPinkysMom]

BBQ pulled pork... No real recipe, as it's a "little bit of this, little bit of that" sort of recipe. Pork shoulder in a slow cooker for hours and hours and hours (at least . Shred and return to slow cooker. Mix in apple cider vinegar, mustard, ketchup, red pepper, and some brown sugar to taste.

Cucumber salad with red onion

 

[Ninna]

Great recipes given, my contribution

Stuffed Shrimp

Good bread is key for this recipe, I use day old homemade or white wheat from Panera.
 

10 slices good quality white sandwich bread, torn.
4 Tb mayonnaise
1 6oz can chopped Clams, drained- reserve 1/4 C of broth.
2 Tb red onion, chopped [or scallions]
1/4 C fresh flat leaf parsley
1 ts chopped garlic cloves
1 Tb fresh lemon juice
1 Tb Dijon mustard
1/8 ts cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground Pepper to taste
Olive Oil Spray

1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled and devined: colossal shrimp [12 ct] for main course or Jumbo [21-25 count] for appetizers.


Preheat oven to 375 F.
Place the torn bread in the food processor and pulse to coarse crumbs. Transfer crumbs to a baking sheet and bake until golden and dry, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring halfway through toasting time.
Remove baking sheet from the oven and reduce the temperature to 275 F.

In the food processor [or blender] swirl the mayonnaise, canned clams, 1/4 C clam broth, parsley, lemon juice, onion, garlic, mustard, cayenne and pinch of salt. Process for a minute to a creamy consistency, transfer the dressing to a bowl and mix with prepared crumbs.

Pat shrimp dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil or no-stick butter flavor spray.
Cut the shrimp along but not through the vein line, then open up shrimp like a book. Using the tip of the knife, cut a 1 inch opening all the way through the center of the shrimp. After the shrimp have been butterflied, and the opening has been cut, flip the shrimp over onto the baking pan.

Use a Tablespoon of stuffing mixture for Colossal and a Teaspoon for smaller shrimp. Press to adhere. Bake until shrimp are opaque, 20 to 25 minutes [about 13-15 minutes for smaller ones]. Remove shrimp from oven and heat the broiler. Spray stuffed shrimp lightly with olive oil and broil until crumbs are deep golden brown and crisp, 1 to 3 minutes depending on size, keep a close eye on your broiler as your creation could quickly burn.