What's Your Signature Dish?
One of my favorite ways to save money is to cook at home. Those of you who know me know that cooking isn't my favorite sport, but I've found ways to make it tolerable.
It's always more enjoyable if you have company. Even if Greg just stands there, it's nice to have someone hand you the spices, or stir the pot. (Better than having him watch tv while I'm muttering about whether his parents were married.)
Never piss off the cook. You don't want to eat food from someone who's been mad at you all day. Just sayin'.
Anyway...
The other thing we do to spice up our menu is recreate our favorite restaurant dishes. Our biggest sin is eating out. To curb the tendency, we started replicating the meals we liked best.
There are entire web sites dedicated to copying famous recipes, from fast food to gourmet restaurants. Here are a few of my favorites:
CopyKat
Six Sisters Stuff
Recipe Link
Culinary Arts College
Do a Google search for your favorite dish and you might just find the recipe.
Quite often our version is even better than the restaurant so don't be surprised if you prefer your own to the national brand.
Who knows? You might come up with a signature dish.
I know Greg's has to be his deep dish pizza. It is amazing! I don't know if I have a signature dish but people like my Mexican fajitas. I also make a mean lemon salmon with orzo.
The sausage and peppers dish I make came from something we had once at a state fair. Ours of course has more meat. :)
What's your signature dish? Have you ever tried to duplicate a restaurant meal?
It's always more enjoyable if you have company. Even if Greg just stands there, it's nice to have someone hand you the spices, or stir the pot. (Better than having him watch tv while I'm muttering about whether his parents were married.)
Never piss off the cook. You don't want to eat food from someone who's been mad at you all day. Just sayin'.
Anyway...
The other thing we do to spice up our menu is recreate our favorite restaurant dishes. Our biggest sin is eating out. To curb the tendency, we started replicating the meals we liked best.
There are entire web sites dedicated to copying famous recipes, from fast food to gourmet restaurants. Here are a few of my favorites:
CopyKat
Six Sisters Stuff
Recipe Link
Culinary Arts College
Do a Google search for your favorite dish and you might just find the recipe.
Quite often our version is even better than the restaurant so don't be surprised if you prefer your own to the national brand.Who knows? You might come up with a signature dish.
I know Greg's has to be his deep dish pizza. It is amazing! I don't know if I have a signature dish but people like my Mexican fajitas. I also make a mean lemon salmon with orzo.
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| Spicy sausage with bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes |
What's your signature dish? Have you ever tried to duplicate a restaurant meal?
Comments
And I totally agree about not pissing off the cook. You can get some nasty surprises in your food that way.
I don't think I have a signature dish either - unless "everything into the pot, I'm not washing extra dishes" counts? :)
I do like making chicken soup from scratch, when I have time. That is, starting by making the stock, saving the meat off the bones, adding it to the end product. Delish, but time-consuming.
Maria want recipe for your spicy sausage with Bell Peppers, Onions and Tomatoes if you have time to email me a copy some time soon.
Secret ingredient? ...sour cream! Yep.
I haven't made a meatloaf in ages. I used to have a cookbook with a hundred different ways to make meatloaf. I must've tried them all--but I never saw banana meatloaf. :)
I save the broth whenever I boil chicken for the dogs, but I can't say I've ever made a really good chicken soup. That was my mom's specialty.
Let me figure out the recipe for the sausage and peppers. I just throw things together until it tastes like I like it. But I'll send you what I think is the right proportions before the weekend is over.
I love comfort food. No matter how bad your day is, if you can end it with a little comfort food, it's not all bad.
Thanks!
I have recreated a number of dishes, and drinks, from restaurants. You're right, my recreations are better than the restaurant. However, the not cooking...
I do like to recreate restaurant meals, and I love it when I can find actual recipes. I have a cookbook from the Cheeseboard, a bakery/pizza store in Berkeley. And I once found a recipe online for Zachary's Pizza. That was awesome!
You should try my French Toast. I'm still working on that recipe too. :D
I think the reason our home versions taste better is because we don't cut corners.
Greg likes to cook--not so much clean-- but that's okay by me.
I guess we all take little things we learned from our parents and grandparents and infuse them into our cooking.
You've inspired me to try to make my own though. Bush's Beans are more expensive than all the other brands, so I only buy it when it's on sale.
My pizza would be the other one - I make the crust and the sauce from scratch, and while hubby sometimes whines that it's just not the same as 'restaurant' pizza (and it's NOT, because it's healthy!) I think it's a delicious substitute.
Re: pizza
There's nothing like homemade crust and sauce! I can testify.