Your Top List of Fave Dishes & Desserts!

creative

creative

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I thought it would be interesting to know what your most favourite dishes and desserts are (not necessarily made by yourself but can be a fantasy creation!). Be as specific as you want!

I am suggesting a top 3 in mains and 3 in desserts but, hey, if you go over...
dontknow.gif


For those who don't have a sweet tooth, you could substitute 3 starters instead.
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Here are mine, currently (I have relatively simple tastes!):-

Main Dishes
- A deluxe steak pie with puff pastry lid (good quality beef and gravy) with mash and lightly cooked greens.
- Haddock & chips (fresh and not overcooked, light batter) with tartare sauce
- A roast dinner e.g. Forerib with goose fat roast potatoes (and lots of them) with gravy, carrots and kale

Desserts
- A deluxe trifle (base of fruit cake soaked in brandy, layered with mango, banana, then fresh custard and topped with creme chantilly and toasted flaked almonds
- an exceptionally made Tiramisu
- a quality Chocolate Cake (reduced sugar) with ganache filling, topped with freshly whipped cream and decorated with chocolate caraque/curls
 
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A lot of my favourites are starters. In fact I often order two starters in restaurants (one to be served as main course). I haven't got a sweet tooth so sometimes I order another starter for dessert! But I will try to answer:

Main Dishes
- Its got to be Curry. Hot as possible.
- Steak and Kidney Pudding (a pie will suffice but I prefer the suet crust pudding).
- Shellfish: no particular recipe but if there are shellfish on the menu I'll order.

Desserts (I don't really do desserts)
- Creme Caramel
- Ice cream
- Creme brulee
 
morning glory said:
A lot of my favourites are starters. In fact I often order two starters in restaurants (one to be served as main course). I haven't got a sweet tooth so sometimes I order another starter for dessert! But I will try to answer:

Main Dishes
- Its got to be Curry. Hot as possible.
- Steak and Kidney Pudding (a pie will suffice but I prefer the suet crust pudding).
- Shellfish: no particular recipe but if there are shellfish on the menu I'll order.

Desserts (I don't really do desserts)
- Creme Caramel
- Ice cream
- Creme brulee
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Oh I didn't think about those who would rather have starters than desserts. I have amended my OP to include this option! So what are your top 3 fav starters?
 
We rarely eat starters and I hardly ever eat desserts. So if I may, I'll choose one starter (prawns in Marie Rose sauce wrapped in smoke salmon) and five main courses (I've always been an awkward sod).

No particular order:

Chilli con carne (my own)
Chicken curry (my own)
Fish, chips and mushy peas (preferably cod or haddock)
Barbecued Aberdeen Angus rump steak (with any potato accompaniment) but definitely with English mustard.
Tom yam khung gai (my wife's)

There are a few others which would make my top ten but as you only asked for six................
 
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I always find these favourites things hard, because it is difficult to narrow it down to a limited list and, of course, the list changes according to varied factors. But trying to catch the spirit and deciding to limit it to the stuff we make ourselves at home, then,


1. My wife’s fish pie is a great favourite

2. My wife’s Friday night fillet steak with shallots and mushrooms and a cream sauce

3. Of the stuff I do, I suppose at the moment it would be the chicken curry done to James Martin’s recipe using the Shemin’s curry paste


Now desserts are an interesting case. I definitely am a dessert person, I love a good dessert, but there is really nothing we do at home worth recording as a ‘favourite’, and it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine in recent times that even some good restaurants I have been in seem very unimaginative when it comes to dessert. It’s the same things everywhere – profiteroles, crème brulee, tiramisu, sticky toffee pudding – all great desserts but I have become a little bored of reading dessert menu’s and finding them to be as generic as modern high streets. There has been more than one occasion in recent times when I have asked to see the dessert menu and after reading it have said, oh forget it, let’s go home. I have in the past eaten some fabulous desserts in restaurants but they are not necessarily ones I can cite as a favourite because they were too specific in design. My local Italian used to do a dessert which was a crepe with forest fruits and ice cream that I really loved. Generally, I prefer desserts that are lighter rather than heavy puddings, and I like it when they have some sharpness as well as sweet. Oh, brandy snaps – I have always been fond of brandy snaps when they have been done as part of a well-designed dessert. And I suppose a really good quality apple pie is a favourite, so there you go:


1. Crepe with forest fruits and ice cream

2. Brandy snaps

3. Good quality apple pie


How’s that?
 
If I was looking purely at restaurant food I would also pick "crispy pata" and "raan" but unfortunately I have not been able to emulate the experts on either of those dishes.
 
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I have been pondering this for a couple of days now, whiling away the spare moments thinking of the things I most like to eat. Thank you @creative. Anyway, here goes:

Main course
1. Slow cooked beef cheek in a rich port & Stilton gravy, creamy mash and wilted greens.
2. Confit de canard with crispy roast potatoes cooked in the duck fat.
3. Fish pie, made by my wife or her sister.

Puddings I seldom eat. Bring me the cheese board and a bottle of port and I will happily sit for hours, like a child with a new packet of crayons, minding my own business whilst demolishing both. So, starters it is:

1. Chicken liver pate. Again, made by my wife.
2. Broccoli and Stilton soup. Cue wife again.
3. A good plate of tapas. Must include blue cheeses, chutney, salami, those flat italian onions (I forget their name) picked in balsamic, Bayonne ham, good olives, cornichons. That should cover it.
 
epicuric said:
I have been pondering this for a couple of days now, whiling away the spare moments thinking of the things I most like to eat. Thank you @creative. Anyway, here goes:

Main course
1. Slow cooked beef cheek in a rich port & Stilton gravy, creamy mash and wilted greens.
2. Confit de canard with crispy roast potatoes cooked in the duck fat.
3. Fish pie, made by my wife or her sister.

Puddings I seldom eat. Bring me the cheese board and a bottle of port and I will happily sit for hours, like a child with a new packet of crayons, minding my own business whilst demolishing both. So, starters it is:

1. Chicken liver pate. Again, made by my wife.
2. Broccoli and Stilton soup. Cue wife again.
3. A good plate of tapas. Must include blue cheeses, chutney, salami, those flat italian onions (I forget their name) picked in balsamic, Bayonne ham, good olives, cornichons. That should cover it.
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Interesting - aside from the tapas, all very 'classic' dishes. How dos this fit with your chilli eating habits mentioned elsewhere?
 
morning glory said:
Interesting - aside from the tapas, all very 'classic' dishes. How dos this fit with your chilli eating habits mentioned elsewhere?
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I like hot dishes well enough - a curry or Mexican chilli is an easy mid week meal and delivers lots of 'bang per buck'. We had a good vegetarian chilli last night, with a fair dollop of Habanero sauce added and fresh sliced chillies on top. However, for me they can't compete with the classics into a list of all time favourites, even if the list were much longer. Suffice it to say that all of the 3 main courses listed would these days be accompanied by a sizeable dollop of English mustard :)
 
First main course I often choose at restaurant or try to cook at home is risotto! In any manner (including brazilian fejoada), but the top for me is:
1° risotto with seafood! :okay:
and then:
2° lasagne with artichokes and cheese
3° fusilli with ragù
For the desserts:
1° chocolate cake, I really love Sacher!
2° black forest cake, it's a German cake...
3° cannoli siciliani......
 
epicuric said:
I like hot dishes well enough - a curry or Mexican chilli is an easy mid week meal..........
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I would agree with you if I had previously cooked portions in the freezer. But to cook either from scratch I find quite a task. Although I do cook both in bulk and my sciatica is playing up again.
 
Yorky said:
I would agree with you if I had previously cooked portions in the freezer. But to cook either from scratch I find quite a task. Although I do cook both in bulk and my sciatica is playing up again.
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I don't think we've ever managed to cook either without having at least another meal left over to freeze! I think your curry repertoire is far more skilled and extensive than ours though.
 
epicuric said:
I think your curry repertoire is far more skilled and extensive than ours though.
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I believe "time consuming" may be a better description. Even with the gadgets that we have I still spend a lot of time on the chopping board with my trusty knife.
 
Yorky said:
I would agree with you if I had previously cooked portions in the freezer. But to cook either from scratch I find quite a task. Although I do cook both in bulk and my sciatica is playing up again.
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I am so used to cooking both chilli and curry that I regard them as easy to cook! No chopping involved in curry making here at all.... unless you count taking the top and bottom off the onions.
 
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