What is your signature dish?

If you were having a dinner party and had to show off your ultimate culinary skill with your best dish, what would you make? Post the recipes for your favourite. Sorry if there's already a thread on this but it's probably a gazillion years old!

Here's mine, an old family hand-me-down, though it was hard to choose! All measurements are really approximate and off the top of my head.

Chicken Casserole (serves 4)

4-5 large chicken breasts, skinned

Plenty Shallots or really small onions

50g smoked bacon lardons

4-5 sticks of celery

Flour

1- 1 1/2 litres Chicken stock

100g macaroni/penne pasta

Pepper/salt to taste

1 Bay leaf

Splash of dry white wine

This works best in a pan that you can put from the hob straight into the oven but if you don't have one you can just do it with normal sauce pans and a ceramic casserole dish. if you're doing it in a pan that goes on the hob and then into the oven, soften the shallots and celery FIRST and then add the bacon and chicken, and the wet and then just bung it straight in the oven.

- Peel the shallots but leave them whole. Peel, chop and wash the celery

- Slice the chicken into pieces, I prefer smaller bitesize pieces but my dad always does them really big. it's jsut personal preference really. Get a bowl and put in some flour and the chicken pieces so they are covered.

- In a pan fry the bacon in some oil and then remove into the casserole dish you will later put in the oven. Add fresh oil to the pan and fry the chicken very slowly, making sure to shake off the excess flour before you actually put it in the pan (otherwise the casserole juice will become too thick). You don't want to cook it right through, just whiten it so the meat is no longer pink coloured. Once it has changed colour remove from the pan and into the casserole dish.

- Fry the shallots and celery ever so slightly just to soften them a bit. The shallots will need a bit more time, try not to bash them about too much so they stay whole.

- Once everything has been briefly cooked, pour over the stock and if needed, some water and a good splash of the dry white wine.you need enough liquid to cover the ingredients by a few inches. Add the bay leaf and COVER.

- Leave in the oven on a low heat (around gas mark 5/190 degrees) for about an hour and a half or whenever the chicken is cooked right through. This time will depend on your oven and the vessel you're cooking it in.

- Once the chicken is cooked add the pasta a little bit more water because pasta absorbs the wet quite a bit. The amount of pasta is up to you, sometimes i put more in to make it more of a chickeny pasta bake but that's up to you. The idea is to get yummy soft pasta bits full of the chicken stock.

and that's it! once the pasta is cooked (roughly 20-30 mins later) it's done! and you will be looking at a delicious meal of soft tender chicken casserole with soft tasty shallots and pasta. remember to remove the bay leaf- they're poisonous to ingest!!

i usually serve it with rice or mash and some mushrooms, or nothing at all if i've put loads of pasta in.

yuuuuum.!

I don't think i can narrow it down to one dish lol

That sounds really tasty Luce. I'll dig up the exact recipe but I really can make pozole (posole, pozol) really well. You use the chicken broth (preferably chicken breasts bc you'll shred it later) and add chili pods and hominy to it til it softens and then that's it! Sounds real simple but it's the best. I'll find a picture.

Luce that sounds delicious! I'm at work at the moment, but I can post some of my favourite recipes when I get home.

Here is my signature chocolate mousse recipe, it's often asked for when I go to peoples places or if we have guests for dinner, I posted it in this link ages ago, but I'll add it here too. It's quite a thick mousse, works well if you want to make mousse tarts too.

Bec's Chocolate Mousse Recipe

Ingredients:

300 ml thickened cream

250 g dark chocolate (or chocolate of your choice, but it tastes better with dark)

2 eggs, seperated, room temperature

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Method:

1. Beat Cream til stiff peaks form

2. Heat chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 1 minute bursts til softened. Stir through egg yolks. Spoon a third of the cream into chocolate mixture, stir. Add remaining whipped cream and stir to combine.

3. In a seperate bowl beat egg whites til soft peaks form, gradually add caster sugar and beat til thick and glossy. Gently fold into chocolate mix.

4. Pour into a large bowl or smaller serving bowls. Chill in the fridge until set.

Meant to serve 6.. though it depends on the size of the bowls you use.

ooh thanks for posting that bec.. i've been looking for a decent chocolate mousse recipe for a while!

I think mine would be... hmm.

I make a mean lasagne, and I make good anzac biscuits... my friend has the most awesome lamb roast recipe, I stole it off her and its always a hit.

You mix garlic, rosemary, honey and wholegrain mustard into a rub, and pretty much roll the lamb in it. Yuuum

I love chicken casarole, Lucy and that sounds like a tastey recipe.. And Chocloate Mousse!!

I can't do much in the kitchen.. But I can make some mean ribs on the grill.. With lots of Corky's bbq sauce!! Get it from a friend, straight from their resturant in Memphis!!

sounds yummy karren!

Found it guys I don't go by measurements but I found a recipe that prepares it the same way I do. Also, pork is more popular but it always makes me ill and it comes out greasier so I use chicken breasts with bones (not whole chickens) and when it's done boiling, we take it out and shred it so that individuals can choose how much chicken they want to add. Can you tell I grew up with picky eaters lol? Plus, this leaves more room for just the hominy to stew and absorb more of the flavor.

Quote:
3½ hours | 30 min prep
SERVES 6 -8

3-4 whole chicken breasts (skinned, if desired)

1 onion, cut in large chunks

32 ounces white hominy

6-8 dried New Mexico chiles (or as many as you like)

10 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon oregano

salt and pepper

GARNISH

chopped onion

chopped cilantro

lemon wedge

Put chicken and chunked onion in large stockpot.

Cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer until chicken falls apart (2-3 hours).

Cool; remove skin and bones, and cut or shred chicken. Add back to broth in stockpot.

Add hominy to stockpot and keep at a low simmer.

Fill a saucepan with water 1/2 full.

Remove stems and seeds from dried chilies.

Add chilies and garlic cloves to saucepan, along with oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Boil for 15 minutes.

Let cool!

Blend chilies and garlic in blender or food processor until it is all liquid.

Add blended chilies to chicken in stockpot.

Stir and boil 10 minutes together.

Ladle into bowls and top with chopped raw onion, cilantro and fresh squeezed lime.

As extra garnishes we also chop up lettuce/cabbage, avocado, radishes (the more the better), oregano (a must for me) for a bigger kick you can also add crushed chili pods with seeds and then its your choice whether to eat it with a spoon or a tostada (a fried tortilla). I personally prefer the store bought ones that have a baked taste to them and you save a lot more time too. You know what? I'm gonna make some this weekend. I'm hungry now lol

that looks amazing adrienne! i've never heard of that dish before. i might try it!

that looks so yummy Adrienne!!!

Thanks ladies. And I'm lucky enough to be able to make it properly lol.

I cook different stuff, but I can't say I have a signature dish

This is definitely something I need to work on.

Ouch, signature dish. I'm good at baking cakes, so i'd say marbled cake, cupcakes, cookies since i found a recipe that works.

Look for the signature spice and the signature ingredient : i put cinnamon and matcha tea almost everywhere. Cinnamon for the taste, and matcha tea for the alien touch the green brings.

oooh adrienne, matcha tea in cake sounds yummy!

Definitely my homemade chicken egg rolls. They are not a side dish, they are a main dish!

I love that choccie mousse recipe. Mine is a veggie pasta sauce. I don't use exact measures so do it to taste.

Large red onion chopped quite small.

3 cloves of garlic

Baco Bits

hand full of dried Porcini mushrooms

Either mushroom or vegetable stock cube

Large jar of Passata or creamed tomatoes.

Some Tomato concentrate or paste.

Dried Italian herbs

Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Fry the onions until just brown and add the chopped garlic and a generous helping of the Italian herbs, salt and pepper.

Then stir in a good 6 or 7 inches of the tomato paste. (Sundried is even better)

Boil some water and put the Porcini in one cup and crumble the cube into another and top up with water.

Add the Baco Bits, frying off for a moment, whilst adding just the mushrooms.

Then add the stock keeping the heat up.

Add the passata, then using the water from the mushrooms to washout the passata bottle and add to the mix.

Bring it all to the boil, then turn it down to a simmer for a few minutes.

I like to make it in the morning as it tastes better being heated up twice.

I love it with farfellini, conchigli or spaghetti, but you can use what you like. Garnish with fresh basil and freshly grated Parmesan and more black pepper.

Loved by veggies and carnivores, I know cause I have made it in Rome and Sardinia for Italians and they loved it, honest, they weren't just being polite.

Mmmm yummy recipes ladies!!!!

I cook a lot of things but one recipe I get asked a lot for is a special cake that I make. We have a Saint in our religion (I am a Christian Orthodox) that "finds" things! Our tradition says that when you have lost something, or you want to find something (a husband perhaps!!!), you can pray and the Saint will help you find it. There are a few variations to the recipe but in all of them you have to use 9 ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil (eg. sunflower)

1 cup sugar

1 tea spoon ground cinammon

1 tea spoon baking powder

1 vanilla extract (1 sachet)

1 can Fanta, orange flavored (or any similar fizzy drink)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 pack self raising flour (500gr)

1/2 cup raisins

Put all the ingredients, except for the flour and raisins, into a large bowl. Mix to a creamy consistency. Add flour (just save a little flour to mix with the raisins before you put them in your mix, so they will not go to the bottom of your cake pan) and then the raisins and stir until just mixed. Pour mixture into a greased pan (10 inch round pan). You don't need to use an electrical mixer, you can mix it with the stirring tool. Bake at 180 degrees C (I think that's 350 in F) for an hour (without preheating the oven).

It's a delicious cake and it's healthy (no butter or eggs) and good for your soul too!!! LOL!

It's called Fanouropita, or Saint Fanourios cake. Try it and tell me if you liked it....

pasiphae, that sounds really interesting!!! I want to try it!

Originally Posted by pinksugar /img/forum/go_quote.gif pasiphae, that sounds really interesting!!! I want to try it! Yes, do try it. It only takes about 10 minutes to make and it tastes so nice. You can add powder sugar on top (after baking it and turning it upside down) if you want to make it a bit sweeter...