Really hard one!

Butternut Squash lasagna, maybe.

Recipe for life:

Cook what you love for people you love.

Then - hope they do the dishes :^)

That's the way we do it. I cook, he cleans!

Hmmm....probably the one dish I have gotten down to a "t" and over time have developed is my spanakopita. I started making it about 11 years ago reading tons of recipes till I came up with my own. I always get tons of compliments on it when I make it for holidays, even from Greeks that have recently immigrated here to the states. I think it's simple enough to teach anyone the only difficult part is the phyllo if you have no experience using it, and the amount of time it takes. I usually do it in two steps, which makes it easier.

Chicken with pesto cream sauce. Dead easy and yummy. That said, I made sure DD could cook from a young age and gave her a hand written book with her favourite family recipes when she left home.

I've passed along about 200 of my favorite recipes in a family cookbook I made about 5 or 6 years ago so it's hard to narrow it down to just one signature recipe. To meet your suggested criteria, I'd probably pick this one, which I have made dozens of times since approx. 1976.

LEMON SPINACH SALAD

1/2 lb. sliced mushrooms
1 lb. young spinach leaves, washed and stemmed
6 Tbs. olive oil
2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, slivered
Finely grated rind of 1/2 lemon
1 hard cooked egg
Freshly ground black pepper

Wash mushrooms and combine with spinach. Chill. Mix oil, lemon juice, salt, cheese and garlic. Chop up egg and sprinkle over salad. Add lemon rind to salad and grind pepper on top. Pour dressing over salad right before serving and toss.

Note: Best if dressing is made about an hour ahead of time and garlic pieces removed before pouring on salad. Crumbled bacon pieces can be added if desired.

No doubt it is the Oatmeal Fudge Cake recipe. Someone calls me at least once a month for the recipe because they've lost their copy.

LOL, Seagrass, I like your idea best!

OK, so the recipe I'm "famous" for? The salsa, of course.

The recipe I'd pass down? Darned if I know. Probably Grandma's Farmhouse White Bread, but maybe her Blueberry Crisp. Or her Molasses Cookies. (sigh)

I'm so indecisive but they are all easy and everyone in the family loves all of those things.

Annie

Actually, I DON'T know that recipe, magsnj! I love to cook, people tell me I cook well, but I'm at a loss whenever someone tries to pin me down by asking me what my preferred cuisine or signature dish is. Dunno, need to work on that! Kind of like my job. What do you do for a living? Um, I'm kinda this but not really, mixed with that but not really. I used to say, "I bill," but after going from 1099 to W2 that no longer works.

But I digress. Beachlily - if you share that pie crust recipe again I'll put something in it and post about it within seven days. Promise.

This post was edited by foodonastump on Wed, Dec 3, 14 at 0:31

Impossible to choose but I think a really useful recipe would be a pizza. They'd learn about dough, and then toppings can be to everyone's taste. I don't know anyone who doesn't like a pizza in one form or another from Italian traditional to a pissaladière, a fougasse.....

It'd have to be a technique. I'd rather pass along how to roast a chicken. So much you can do with that, once you know how. Too many people make dried out chicken. I'd save the world one chicken at a time? Yea, that's it.

DiCicco Family Spaghetti Sauce. My mom was from Naples, it is Naples, after all, that gave the tomato sauce to Italy.

Peppi kept encouraging me to document the recipe that I witnessed my grandmother and mother make since I was a child. Of course I didn't have the respect for it until my first visit to Italy where it's authenticity hit me.

As a side note, I will only pass it on to close family as others have not accepted it without criticism.

If I had to pass along a technique, it would be making pie crusts. I was so proud of my DD when she hosted an apple pie making party for her friends in high school. Since then, she has taught dozens of people how to make what she calls Fearless Pies, including from-scratch crusts.

I can attest to mustangs wonderful pasta sauce. She brought it to a get-together at Peppi's, and it was really good. And of course, Annie's salsa is the best I have had. I guess i would have to say my spinach brownies or my molasses cookies, my Santa's Helpers cookies or my meatloaf or my carrot cake. Unfortunately, my daughters don't cook much anymore. However, my son is very interested in cooking, so I pass stuff on to him, 2 of my granddaughters, and a favorite niece. I guess I can't just list one.

Sheshebop, great to see you posting here again!

I can "attest" to your wonderful spinach brownies! Since you posted the recipe, they've been the hit at several family gatherings. Unfortunately, since I'm lactose-intolerant, I haven't been able to eat them myself, unless I take a lot of Lactaid pills. But this past week, in the produce section of my supermarket, I saw a tofu product that looks (and supposedly tastes) like shredded cheddar, and I'm thinking of trying it in the spinach brownies. Do you have any idea whether it would "behave" like regular cheese?

p.s. To come back to the OP, I'm trying to think of a recipe that I'd want to pass along to my kids, but most of my best/favorite ones are meat dishes, and DD is a vegetarian. Will post later if I think of one.

Sue

Well, duh! I would pass along my Lochshen Kugel (noodle pudding), which is an adaptation of several recipes I've collected over the years. The final version can be served as part of a dairy meal. It contains cottage cheese, crushed pineapple and/or chopped apples, and raisins, plus spices.

Sue

My late mother's meatloaf recipe. I have never made it without it being raved over.

She had many good recipes that are hand-down worthy though. Apple pie, cheddar & onion quiche, a couple of different cookies, more. She was a good cook.

I have a few that I think are worth passing on, too although I am not the cook that my mother (and grandmother) was. I would be hard pressed to choose just one, but the marinated vegetable salad is my default potluck/family get-together recipe.

Beef stroganoff.

Sherry, Thanks for the kind words on the sauce. Your Spinach Brownies (muffins) and your Pasta Salad for 70 are on my always list!!

*Been trying to call you.

OMG, Foodonastump, I wasn't referring to people on this site. I've included my great grandmothers pie crust in two wedding cookbooks I've made for children of friends and then distributed it to whomever wanted it. I just think people don't bake!!

Annie, your blueberry crisp is on the menu repeatedly as is your farmhouse bread. I know your family loves those and so do we. Both recipes have made it into the wedding cookbooks. One lady is a lawyer and the second one did apprenticeship at a bakery and she's a teacher.

OK, FOAS, here's the recipe as it appeared in the last cookbook. I won't hold you to using it, but if you do, hope you enjoy it. Makes wonderful pies. (As a side note to the Gardenweb, I did link to a number of sites that have great instructions for making pie dough. They way I learned was seeing this dough being made, and then I perfected it before the internet took off.)

GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHERâÂÂS PIE CRUST
(Understand there are as many pie crust recipes as there are bakers. Choose what you like.

I was told that this recipe is a German pastry crust. What did I know? ItâÂÂs the one I grew up with in a strongly German family. The instructions are the exact ones I received and the ingredient list is in the same order. Sorta sketchy, you think?)

1 cup flour
1/3 cup shortening (I use the Crisco blocks)
ý teaspoon baking powder
ü teaspoon salt
ü cup milk

Mix dry ingredients and cut in shortening. Add liquid.

Makes enough pastry for 8â single crust pie. Double the recipe to make a deep dish 9â double crust pie.

Beachlily, that's the way our family recipes are too if they're written down. Usually just a list of ingredients with only vague references to quantity, leaving it up to the cook whether to add another egg or onion, add cardamom or chili peppers. Your pie pastry looks eminently doable. :) I've been looking for a good milk crust recipe, so thank-you!

Re baking, I think even people who bake get intimidated by pie, which is funny because "easy as apple pie" is an expression because it's easy. :) OTOH, I used to have nightmares about rolling out because I never could find a rolling pin that behaved right (i.e., like my mother's). I finally found a grainy (oak?) cylinder which has gadgety handles that come off (stay off), which is long enough to roll out for a 10" pie, holds the flour, and can be used with a sock. The pastry dough is the easy part! (And recently I added Perfect-A-Crust rings thanks to discussions here, along with plastic wrap on top of Silpat (a happy discovery), and it's gone from finally, a decent rolling pin, to mindlessly easy.)

Maybe the trick is to give Perfect-A-Crust rings and Grainlady's instructions with the pastry recipe?

The recipe DS requested first when he got married is my Grandmother's homemade mayo. Mazola oil, egg yolks, vinegar, lemon juice and seasonings. I remember my mother having to set 1/2 day aside once every few weeks to make a big batch of it, as none of us would touch that nasty white stuff from the grocery store. My Aunt, bless her heart, figured out a way to make it in a food processor. Makes all our lives much easier!
Edie

Six plus years later I am still waiting for the DiCicco Family Spaghetti Sauce. Ahem.....

What would I pass along? Too hard to answer, there are several. The beef roladen, Moms venison roast with gravy/sauce, my chili, the list goes on.

My great-grandfather's recipe for an artery-clogging eggnog that starts with 1 dozen eggs and a quart of whipping cream :)

"Heart attack in a glass"

Sherry! I'm glad I came to the forum today and got to see that you are back. We love your Santa's Helpers.

Cathy, I have made your mother's sauce and it's wonderful. Thank you for sharing it with me.

I don't know what recipe of mine I'd chose as The One.
Maybe Stollen.

Could anyone direct me to Grainlady's pie crust recipe?
And Perfect-A-Crust rings? Not for me, of course, because I'm into this diet. Drat!

I have passed along my mom's chicken and dumpling recipe. Her grand children all loved them. I also have made a cook book for my nieces of treasured family recipes . It was so much fun to do. Just last week my niece said her 3 year old son loves sweet potato casserole and I said well so and so's is in the cookbook. she said I didn't know that. Now she does. lol.
Mary

This is a very interesting thread. It IS hard to choose just one recipe - if there can be only one, and it has to be easy and something that can impress, that would have to be my Lentil Soup, based on Martha Stewart's recipe and tweaked over the years. I have been asked to make it again for Christmas dinner which I am hosting again for the whole family. I'll also make a quiche or my "easy quiche" - hash brown and cheese crust with whipped eggs and seasoning for a filling. So easy. Bake the hash brown and egg crust first, and it is 2 cups hash browns and 2 cups shredded cheddar. I developed that recipe after trying out a Mexican Eggs in a Nest recipe I pulled off the internet. Instead of making a dozen little nests, I was in a hurry and put it in a pie dish and extended the baking time. I also have to eat and cook gluten free, so both of those dishes are perfect for feeding a crowd - no expensive GF grains required! Though I will bake GF sugar cookies and apple pie for everyone. GF crust is superior to wheat crust IMO, sorry - I don't mean to offend, but the crust holds up better and longer and doesn't get soggy after a day or even two, also has a better taste than wheat. Other than that, my Taco Dip is requested a lot, and is also GF and doesn't require any special ingredients or adjustments to accommodate me. Also very easy and impressively tasty. So all the recipes I talked about will definitely be given to the kids! And my pumpkin muffins, yummy! So moist and tender and perfect, which is a huge plus because most GF things tend to get crumbly because you have to use xanthan gum because of the lack of gluten, which binds things so nicely in wheat stuff. I'm not really good at cooking meats, so I would love to learn how to roast a chicken perfectly!

The recipe I'm most known for within the family and around the marinas is pork carnitas. Only my kids bother to make it though because the pork is slow cooked in lard. The lard scares most off. People keep asking for the recipe though and I keep passing it along...you never know. It's not difficult although a bit time consuming.

/tricia

CC great to hear from you! Reminded me to maybe try your stollen recipe this year. Mom loves stollen but I have been too busy in past years to try it. It could work out this year!

This is a great thread. On the one hand it makes me sad that I don't have anyone to pass my recipes on to as a family, but my cousin got my grandmother's recipe file and I know she is taking good care of it and passing it on to her family. My other grandmother couldn't read or write so from her I just got lots of wonderful food memories and I can and do create most of the dishes she made.

What I've managed to dedicate myself to passing on to the world, is a love of growing food and using it. That's something that I inherited from my grandmother and I have managed to make somewhat of a living passing on the tried and true traditional techniques for self sufficiency and creativity with making or growing your own.

The recipe that was passed down to me that I most treasure is grandma's molasses cookie recipe. They are dark and big and very spicy. She almost always had a cookie jar full when we would come to visit. As a girl I remember vividly having them with cream tea in the afternoon, a tradition I keep up with, except for the sad fact that due to a health condition I can no longer drink tea. I still have afternoon coffee on a lot of days, and if you come to my house you can almost always get tea or coffee and a little something. I love those molasses cookies, but rarely make them, the recipe makes a boatload and I just can't eat them up or give them away fast enough. My Baubie made oatmeal cookies which I can pretty much re-create and is a family favorite.

If there's one recipe I would pass on, it would be my ratatouille. What a revelation the first time I made that! Just like the movie! Another fun one would be my peach maple jam, that is just so "me." Other than that my signature dishes are soups and pastas, and I almost always just wing those based on whatever is in the fridge.

Great topic Mags!

Kitchendetective, This is Shirl's thread with Perfect-A-Crust info, including Grainlady's instructions on how to use them, and FOAS's note on where to find them. My variation is to do it all, with the plastic wrap, on top of a silpat.

There wasn't a recipe in that thread, but I've used them with blissful success with several different ones--including a GF goop with an egg that turned out to be a very good crust and would have been impossible to roll any other way.

The thing about it is that you look at these honkin' big rings wondering where the heck you'll put them and thinking, "I don't need no stinkin' forms to roll out a pie!", but since I've been making all these different crusts, some of which taste great but don't roll well, I figured it was worth a try. Angels sang. And danced. Other than keeping one's skills up, I can't figure out why it would be worth bothering making a pie without! I don't care if it's easy to roll pastry or not, it's just so much easier using the rings why do it any other way? It's like mincing onions with a knife and then trying a food processor.

Back to the original topic, I think before I passed down recipes, I'd pass down kitchen experience and patience. The little girl has made lasagna with me, and has started to learn how to chop, but she's not ready for the all day endeavor that spaghetti sauce is. She will, however, know how to make borekes and bake challah before she's grown. Lots of other things as well. And she'll have written reminders of ingredients, etc., but they'll depend on her already knowing what to do with them.

This is a favorite cake, published recipe, easy to make, requires a full sized (original style) Bundt pan for the quantity of batter: Chocolate Pumpkin Marble Bundt Cake. Be very careful while marbling so it doesn't over combine (you won't taste the pumpkin if it's full on Florentine), and don't use too fresh and pungent a cocoa powder (so it doesn't overwhelm the pumpkin).

This post was edited by plllog on Sat, Dec 6, 14 at 0:30

Pink, we tried eggplant for the first time this year and like it very much.
I've been wanting to do an ratatouille, and I'm wondering if you might share your recipe.

Pillog: I would love to try your bundt cake, but the link takes me to the pie crust ring thread. And would also love the recipes for Sheshebop's spinach brownies and Mustang's sauce and CC's stollen and Annie's blueberry crisp and Moonwolf's G'ma's lemonade and all the other delicious sounding foods.

Is there a compiled list of favorite recipes in the cooking forum--seems I remember Ann T. doing one. If so, how do I locate the thread?

I'm still thinking on the original question. It would be really hard to pick just one. I agree with some of the above posters that teaching specific cooking techniques would be a greater service, but having someone share a favorite recipe with me is something I treasure.

Liz

Not sure but just some tips like use trimmings from the Apple and peach trees to barbecue. that makes a huge difference in flavor. Also put a little sweet wine in the fourth of July potato salad. I make the regular mustard type without extra sugar. I dislike the prepared ones that taste too sugary. Everyone loves that potato salad with the wine in it. No one can quite figure out what makes it so tasty.

Also to use the best and freshest food you can get. What a difference it makes in the flavor. Especially when you aren't using lots of sugar or salt. Eating out, places hide bad quality like that or with msg style enhancers. When you cook at home, you need the best food.

I wish I had my grandmother's recipe for a rye bread she always made. It had other flavors besides rye and I've never tasted that bread flavor anywhere else. I have my memory of it but that's all.

Liz, thank-you so much for letting me know. I fixed the cake link. Sometimes "copy" doesn't doesn't quite. :)

Spinach Brownies
Not the spaghetti sauce but a very interesting thread, nonetheless, with recipes.
Another good sauce thread with hints about you-know-whose grandmother's you-know-what.
No stollen.
A blackberry crisp thread in which Ann T. posts a copy of Annie's recipe.
Moonwolf's Grandma's Lemonade.

Liz, if you want our borekes recipe, e-mail me, but you have to promise to use only sesame oil, and liberally, and only use real potato flakes (not fresh potatoes). And don't even try it if the humidity is low. Or boil a kettle until it's nearly dry or something...

Great thread!
Which recipe to pass down? Gosh, that's a difficult one...it would depend on the person I was giving it to.

Basic advice is easier...relax, be creative, cooking a decent meal should be enjoyable, not traumatic.

I suppose a lesson in Soup making would be the most useful I can think of for young people just starting out.

You can make soup out of just about anything if you keep a few basic ingredients on hand. It's a great way to convert leftovers into a new meal, and fussing too much over measurements and proportions isn't necessary.

Yeah, if you want to make a lobster bisque or consomme from scratch, technique, time, and knowledge is required.

But, opening a container of good quality stock, and then rummaging the fridge and pantry can produce wonderful results. A hearty soup, a loaf of bread, and a salad. A healthy, inexpensive dinner that just about anyone can make.

I cannot wrap my brain around how many folks automatically open a can when they want soup.

Kittymoonbeam welcome to the CF! My mom makes her potato salad very similar to yours. She uses grey poupon mustard, which has white wine in it. Also mayo, not the sweet miracle whip type dressing. Just potatoes, lots of eggs, and then dill for seasoning. She has to make it that way since my dad is so picky and won't tolerate anything like celery or onions in it! She always gets raves about it too, and I make mine that way, but I add green things since I am a vegetable lover! I don't have a recipe for that, but it is a flavor combo that many folks compliment our family on when we serve it at summer gatherings. My mom also makes a cucumber and sour cream salad that is great too. That has lemon juice and chives, although I make it with scallions when I can't get chives. Similar to tstatsiki but without the mint, which suits me fine.

As for my ratatouille recipe, I don't have the cookbook that the recipe came from with me right now unfortunately. It's in a book called "Grow Your Own Vegetables" and is the book that got our family started on vegetable gardening. There's a section of tried and true veggie recipes in the back, and the ratatouille is one of them. Great book, great recipe set. I just don't have it with me right now, I'm spread out living in two different states and half my stuff is in the other state! I do remember it has maybe 3 green peppers, three zucchini, five or six tomatoes, a large eggplant and maybe one or two onions . . . 1/4 cup of olive oil for sauteeing, lots of basil, (fresh is wonderful but you can use dried if it hasn't been sitting around for too many years!), and I think some fresh parsley, probably some garlic. I know it is important to add the ingredients in the right order so they don't overcook. The only way to make great ratatouille is to use garden fresh produce, particularly the tomatoes! But good quality peppers, zucchini and eggplant are important too. I have mixed feelings about peeling eggplant so I usually peel mine in a striped pattern and leave a little skin on. You can add garbanzo beans to the ratatouille and serve it over rice or pasta, topped with parmesean or goat feta cheese for a great vegetarian meal. It also pairs amazingly well with quiche. Can serve it cold and use it as a topping for pizza or some type of grilled cheese sandwich or bruschetta. If you love it, you can make it in the winter with some type of canned tomatoes, (preferably home canned!) but it is not going to be the dish of your dreams at that point. Good, but the ratatouille of memories is fresh from the garden!

Hi LPink!
My Stollen recipe has been posted here several times.
It's the third post on this thread:

Here is a link that might be useful: Cloudy Christine's Stollen

I make a lemon bundt cake that I take to potlucks and for a friend who is single, and just loves it. I've been asked for the recipe a number of times.

raee - would you share your Mom's meatloaf recipe?
lpinkmountain: would you share your molasses cookie recipe?

Many thanks.

Hobo Gravy: brown high fat content hamburger in skillet. Toss in enough flour to sop up the fat and drippings. Let the flour/hamburger mix brown for a few minutes then add enough water, milk or broth, about 1-2 cups for every tbsp. of flour and cook over low heat until the gravy is thickened to your liking. I add salt, pepper and Worchestershire sauce to taste
Serve over mashed or baked potatoes, pasta, rice or bread with a canned vegetable..
My mother would faint if she knew I knew this heart unhealthy, cholesterol choked, calorie ladened, flour and grease recipe that I toss together when I want a quick dinner dish that everyone seems to love.

This post was edited by lucky123 on Sat, Dec 6, 14 at 20:10

Lucky, we call that "savoury mince" here. Was often seen on tables in my youth, not so much now,.

LPink...If you haven't experimented with different types of eggplant, try Chinese eggplant for your ratatouille. The skin is more tender than that of the more common eggplant, so you needn't peel it at all, and the flesh is more firm, with smaller seeds. It is great for any dish which requires chunks of sauteed/simmered eggplant, as it's firmer texture helps keep it from turning mushy. If you haven't seen one, google up an image. They're long and thin, with a lighter purple skin.

I've never had much luck with growing good tasting eggplant Rachel, but I am going to keep trying! I am in charge of a children's garden and one of the beds is a "Farm Animals" theme. I have chickens and hens and cockscomb planted in it, and eggplant. Last year I grew an Italian variety and i got ONE eggplant from my plant. Next year I am going to try growing the little white ones, for the looks. But I might be able to sneak some long ones into the rainbow bed in the indigo row!

Melissa I LOVE spinach pie. I make a version called "Albanian Spinach Pie" that I got from someone on CF. I think it was from Linda in Tennessee but that was way back in the day before I was fastidious about writing down the source. I don't make it too often though, since spinach pie gets soggy languishing in the fridge and with just me it would take forever to eat it up. I sometimes make it for parties if I have the time. My SO loves spinach pie which is a plus for him!

OK, here's the molasses cookie recipe. There are two versions. One is mine which cuts the quantity down by a third, and the other is the original from Grandma. Pretty sure she used Crisco for the cookies but I use a mix of butter and margarine or all butter.

Tillie Grieve's Molasses Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.

2 eggs
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup dark molasses
2 tsp. vinegar
2/3 tsp. ginger. My notes say you can add 3/4 if you want them spicier.
1/2 - 2/3 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda in 1 cup flour
Add gradually 2 1/3 more cups flour

Chill and roll into balls. Flatten with a glass dipped in sugar.

No notes on how many this makes. I also have instructions for making MORE, which may be the authentic recipe and the other is my cutting it down.

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups shortening
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups dark molasses
1 TBLSP vinegar
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 TBLSP soda in 2 cups flour
Add gradually 3 more cups flour.

Follow directions above.

LPink, do give Chinese eggplant a try in your garden. I have found it to be more prolific and easier to grow. Having moved to the East Coast from the West, I have had to deal with a much shorter growing period, as well as the fact that the only place I have available in my yard for a veggie garden doesn't get a full day's sun because of the woods surrounding me. But Chinese eggplant has done well. Japanese eggplant does well too..it is also long, tender skinned and not too full of seeds, but it is darker purple.

I'm with Melissa. Spanakopita. Possibly, stuffed grape leaves. Those were my grandmother's and mother's signature dishes and I took them over. Now my daughter is making them.

Cloudy Christine, thanks so much for linking your stollen! I've tried Googling it six ways, including after you linked, and it just doesn't come up!

Do you have a version for by hand?

Thanks!

JC

That is written for "by hand" mixing. I mention that I now use a processor, but I wrote out the recipe for my son who did not have one then.

Red beans, sausage and rice

1 lb. kidney beans
I can petite diced tomatoes
1 chopped onion
4 cans beef broth (can use chicken)
2 rings of sausage....I like a fairly coarse ground sausage.
Couple of Tbsp comino seeds
Seasoning to taste
Cilantro

Combine everything except cilantro and sausage and cook until done. Just as it is done, add the sausage, cut into about half inch slices. You could use less sausage, but we like a lot and we add it last so it doesn't shrivel up and get hard.

When sausage has cooked, and ready to serve, add a good handful of chopped cilantro. Serve over rice.

I was never fond of beans, per se. My mother cooked them at least once a week, growing up. Every time I make these, people want the recipe.

The next day, mash the beans and spread them on crisp corn tortillas. Top with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese.....super good tosados.

I'm sorry, Christine!!! I've been having some communication glitsches between my mouse and computer. I figured out what happened--I scrolled down, past your name to your recipe, then it bounced back to the OP recipe, and I didn't notice. Usually I do notice, but it was a stollen recipe. ;)

I'm definitely going to try it!

Thank-you!!!

JC