Friday, August 03, 2007

A disappointing dinner

pearsendive

It happens to me, and I'm sure it's happened to you too. Sometimes, the recipe that sounds so good on paper, just doesn't work at all. We recently had such a dinner, where all three new recipes turned out to be.. so-so. Or outright bad. Above, a salad of caramelized pears, walnuts and endives. Sounds good, yeah? Well, it was horrible. The endive was way too bitter (how on earth do you eat this stuff?) and the pears couldn't make up for it. The nuts didn't help. A strong vinaigrette or a smattering of blue cheese might have helped, though, but that wasn't in the recipe.

lammspett

We served that (thankfully just for the two of us) with grilled lamb. Usually a winner, but this one was rather boring. The marinade sounded good, but it wasn't very exciting at all. And the meat was really tough and stringy - can't fault the recipe there, though.

chiliaioli

It was served with a chili-aïoli that also sounded incredibly good, but was just bitter and nasty. Sigh. Huge disappointment, that one! Needless to say, you're not getting the recipes. Be thankful.

9 comments:

Honeybee said...

Ohh, what a shame. And yes, it happens to me, too, once in a while. Like the hot and sour vegetable curry that I made some time ago - it was everything and nothing and quite dry. Not a dinner to remember. Ah, well, these things just happen, I suppose. I wish you a lovely weekend with delicious things to eat!

Anonymous said...

awww i feel your pain... some days are just like that ... i've stopped trying to prepare 'new' recipes on the night of events for that reason :(

Anonymous said...

Gee... That's REAL sad. Happens quite a bit with me as well. And I'm a huge Food buff. Well I have a yearning for soups and salads. I post my recipe collections at
http://salads-and-starters.blogspot.com

You're welcome to try them and tell me how you liked them.

Cheers!!
And good luck with your next recipe. Hope its one from my blog.. (Oh!! You won't be needing the luck then though..) ;)

Anonymous said...

I have indeed had this happen, recently with Singapore Noodles and also in the past with baked endive...I just can't get the hang of that vegetable!

Dagmar said...

I hate food disapointments! It's so enerving to have a recipe that sounds delicious and then turns out to be really bad.

Jeanne said...

Oh dear... Maybe your star charts were just not aligned for kitchen exploits that day ;-) Sorry to hear your whole meal was a write-off - and btw I don't see the point of endive either!

BC said...

Well, maybe you could use the picture of the caramelized pears and call it poutine - French Canadian dish of French fries with gravy and cheese curds. It looks a bit like it.

Anonymous said...

What a bummer. Btw, endives become bitter when exposed to light. That's why they're supposed to be wrapped in dark paper. They're best eaten very fresh.

Deborah said...

It happens to everyone, but no one else is brave enough to post about it!! Hopefully the next one will be a winner!!