Last night was Saturday night, the night I have to cook something new and interesting, unlike weeknights when I'm likely to throw together anything reasonably healthy and tasty that I can do without thinking.
I pulled out a recipe for grilled green-chilli quail on a Turkish spoon salad. It wasn't hard to do - even butterflying the quail wasn't exactly a challenge. It looked nice on the plate. But it didn't thrill me. I couldn't quite explain why - maybe it was underseasoned; maybe I just expected it to taste more exotic.
I don't have a big sweet tooth, but I like making desserts, especially really over-the-top ones. So I picked a chocolate lime pie, recipe by Nigella Lawson. As I read the recipe, I kept thinking 'this is not going to set - there's nothing in it to make it set'. Then I thought 'hey, her recipes normally work, I'll trust this one'. Turns out I should have trusted my instincts. Pie did NOT set (not even overnight) despite the fact that I snuck in a leaf of gelatine. So now I have scraped all the filling back out and given it some more gelatine ... unorthodox and possibly a bit yucky of me, but I want to see if it will work.
Not much culinary success then. As my brother reassuringly said 'Well, obviously, if they're recipes you haven't tried before, some aren't going to be great'. Can't argue with that logic.
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4 comments:
How amazing is this? Last night I made what was called Turkish Apple Cake. As I mixed the batter, following instructions painstakingly, I thought "there's not enough batter/dough for this amount of apples" I was right, it was more like a dessert than a cake, so I made a quick custard and we spooned it in.
Our coincidences still keep coming!
It's been so long since I discovered out and tried new recipes. I think your brother's right -- experimenting comes with risks, but at least you're keeping things fresh. Inspiring!
Oh well- but boy does chocolate lime pie sound yummy!
Yes, Ma, I think we should both trust our cooking instincts by now!
Mater, that was exactly why I decided to do a new recipe every Saturday - so easy to fall back on old favourites and never try anything new.
Christina - you know what, once I'd added more gelatine, it set like a dream and it tasted great!
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