Kitchen Disaster

In the spirit of Mark Diacono, who yesterday blogged that he felt that more food writers should be honest about their kitchen disasters, after a wonderful mention in the Irish Times yesterday about cooking with children, and Kate Takes 5 featuring my guestpost about goggles and sprinkles; I’m coming clean.
I thought I was doing great, in my head I had come up with a recipe for vegan burgers made from cauliflower and broccoli.
I steamed them a little bit overcooked them in the steamer. Blitzed the steamed brassicas with some tahini, minced garlic, spices and a little rice flour to get the burgers to hold their shape. Then baked the burgers in the oven.
Having taken the time to shoot some photos of said vegan burgers, I plated them up for the boys.
The 20 month old expressed his dissatisfaction by taking a bite, crying and spitting out the contents of his mouth. This is unusual as he is possibly the best eater in the family. The fussy 4 year old smelled the burgers and put them to one side telling me that they smelled funny. I bit into one myself.
I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. I think that if I ever ate sponge that the texture would match what I put in my mouth. A damp, squidgy sponge that tasted vaguely of wet gaberdine coats on the bus on the way home from school on a hot Autumn day, mixed with damp dog who has been rolling in the grass.
Himself arrived home just as I was tossing the burgers in the bin hiding my shame.
In my defense, I made a batch of my special sauce with other items from the allotment including carrots, peppers, garlic, onion and tomatoes which was used to create my hidden vegetable pasta. Lesson learned. I’m sticking to the old reliables for the rest of the week.
I should listen to my own advice to cook good, fresh food simply!
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