What's your culinary specialty?

by pmouse 81 Replies latest jw friends

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  pmouse

  Reading Hortensia's topic "Menu" made my mouth water. I remember in the 70's (when we used to be able to have lots of JW social get-togethers like picnics and parties) some of the friends would bring pot-luck specialties that were to die for!

  Everyone has a dish they consider their "specialty" which gets high praise and generally requests for the recipe. What's yours? And would you be willing to post it for the rest of us on this forum?

  I'll start:

  Sweet Potato Casserole:

  • 3 cups fresh, cooked mashed sweet potatoes (not canned)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 stick butter or margarine
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 t. cinnamon
  • 1.2 t. nutmeg
  • 1 t. vanilla flavoring
  • 1/2 cup sugar

  Combine and beat until smooth. Pour into 1 1/2 quart casserole dish or oblong dish if you prefer. Top with the following:

  Sweet Potato Casserole Topping

  • 1 c. brown sugar
  • 1 cup pecans or walnuts - finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup butter

  Combine sugar, flour and softened butter. Sprinkle over potatoes; top with pecans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.

  It never fails to disappear and I always get requests for the recipe. So what's yours?
• 

  avidbiblereader

  My wife is a great cook and I am a great eater, she cooks and I clean. Trust me no one would eat what I make. However she is teaching me very slowly on certain recipes.

  abr
• 

  pmouse

  abr:

  What about outdoor grilling? Any special little antics on the barbee?
• 

  nvrgnbk

  What about outdoor grilling? Any special little antics on the barbee?

  Suggestion for fabulous steaks.

  Seasoning: kosher salt, nothing more nothing less.

  Flip only once.

  High heat. Lid down.
• 

  jaguarbass

  Whenever I bring a case of Michelob, it always disappears.
• 

  Hortensia

  my specialty has always been baking, which probably explains why I look like the Pillsbury doughboy. Here is a really good cake recipe:

  Topping
  4 T unsalted butter
  2/4 cup light brown sugar
  prepared fruit 4 peaches or nectarines, pitted and sliced, or 5 plums pitted and sliced or 1 small pineapple, stem, peel, cored, and sliced

  Cake
  1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  3 T cornmeal (I usually omit this)
  ½ teaspoon salt
  1 stick butter, room temp
  1 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 T for egg whites
  4 large eggs, separated
  1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
  2/3 cup whole milk

  Topping: butter sides and bottom of 9X3 inch round cake pan. Melt 4 T butter in saucepan, add brown sugar and cook until mixture is foamy and pale, 4 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into cake pan, swirl, arrange fruit slices over topping.

  Cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder., cornmeal and salt, mix thoroughly. Cream butter in mixer, gradually add 1 cup sugar, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beak in yolks and vanilla, reduce speed to low and add dry mixture and milk alternately, beginning and ending with dry ingredients, until batter is just smooth.

  Beat egg whites until frothy, increase speed, gradually add sugar, beat until stiff peaks. Fold into batter, gently pour batter into pan and spread evenly on top of fruit. Bake until top is golden and toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Rest for two minutes, invert onto cake plate.

  by the way, if you just make the cake without the topping, it is the best cake I have ever seen for strawberry shortcake since it is less sweet than most cakes and has a very nice texture.
• 

  pmouse

  That really sounds good! Have you ever heard of the Coca Cola cake? Where you just add a can of coke to a prepared cake mix (no eggs, oil, etc). I hear it is supposed to be very moist and good. Diet coke tends to make it low cal.
• 

  Hortensia

  yeah, although I never tried coca cola cake, I have a recipe for it. I've tried mayonnaise cake and tomato soup cake, but never tried sauerkraut cake, not quite that brave.

  for cake mix cakes, my favorite, which someone always used to bring to JW potlucks, is the one make with cake mix, lemon jello and frozen lemonade. It's unbelievably sweet, but also very moist and tart and really delicious. Haven't had it in years, nowadays am limited to six squares of dark chocolate a day as I am on a diet.

  that's part of the reason for having folks over for dinner - tired of cooking home made vegetable soup and fake egg omelets and green salads.
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  In 4 different categories:

  Cajun: Creole Gumbo and Court Bouillon

  Italian: Wild Sicilian All-Purpose Spaghettie Sauce and Fried Eggplant

  Mexican: Chicken Felicidad, Chicken TNT and Chicken Mole'

  BBQ: Stuffed BBQ Pork Loin
• 

  lonelysheep

  Fried catfish, slammin yams, string beans, red velvet cake with cream cheese icing (all from scratch).