Lamb tagine.

I have no one visiting me

Spaghetti. Boiling water is the most advanced cooking thing I care to learn.

Either steak or salmon but depends on the guest like others have mentioned. I usually also enjoy putting my own spin on the recipe, like adding a spice or making it more citrusy etc

As a one size fits all kinda thing: sourdough bread, that takes me like 24 hours from start to finish, with incubating over night in the fridge.

Other than that, it depends. We already cook good for ourselves regularly, no need to wait for there to be guests. So we cook just regular food, whatever we think our guests might enjoy.

That primarily depends on the guest. There is no one size fits all dish.

What i can do to impress is that I ask the guest to name three ingredients, and I cook something using those.

It’s not the dish that impresses, but the preparation.

One year, my family and I were at my middle brother’s house for a summer time visit. He had a party and grilled chicken. My brother never really learned how to cook and it showed. People barely touched it and there was a ton of it left over.

Fast forward another year and he wants to do the same thing. I offer to cook so he can attend to other more important party affairs. The only thing I did differently was I started with fresh good quality chicken and not mass frozen bagged stuff from Tyson. I also brought my instant read thermometer. Otherwise it was just salt and pepper on the chicken, although I used a ton more than he did.

Same number of people, same amount of chicken… There were NO left overs. I also made my cubed potatoes, those were gone too.

It was all technique. I used virtually the same ingredients he had the year prior.

It depends on if I like the guest or secretly wish they were dead. if it’s the former I order takeout. if it’s the latter… I cook.

now baking on the other hand… I always bake from scratch. and never give my cookies to people I hate.

Elk Osso Buco - Beyond The Chicken Coop https://www.beyondthechickencoop.com/elk-osso-buco/

According to my husband, anything with garlic, onion, and sautéed those both in butter smells very fancy.

If I had time to plan though, I’d make ravioli and freeze them and make sauce when they came over.

Chicken Parmas with chips, veg and gravy

Really hits the spot 8 beers in

It depends on who is coming over, I more usually impress with cocktails & make food to satisfy people not impress them. Gumbo, I have had people say best they ever tasted. Lamb for my mother-in-law, slow cooked 4 hours in the oven with fennel and apricots and harissa. Sourdough baguette one year at Thanksgiving, those were chowed down on. Vegan kid is impressed when I nail a dessert for her. I do grow some of what we eat, feel like that is sort of impressive I guess.

But cocktails is where I get the most compliments - I made the

https://imbibemagazine.com/recipe/friend-zone-a-zero-proof-strawberry-drink/

With some really nice spiced strawberry fermented soda I made, with the goop from the strawberry syrup like she uses in the recipe, but also the tops and leaves. It doesn’t even have alcohol, my heavy drinking ex brother outlaw could not understand how it could be so good. “What’s in this?” “Tepache de fresa” “No, I mean what is the booze?” “None.” “See, THAT is why you are the best. How is this so good?”

You have to know your audience to have it be well received. There’s no one dish that is going to universally be magic.

If you are cooking for me, gumbo or a soup with an amazing broth. Or a really good sandwich. I love a good sandwich.

When I have guests I’m usually not trying to impress them but feed them so I go for something like a large ziti with summer squash and sweet onion for the side and some fresh made bread with olive oil for dipping.

Not meats and ferments

Himalayans. Lot of work to get them, but worth it, because the ice keeps them fresh, and other types of meat are expensive.