I have often clipped out a recipe from a newspaper’s food
page and then the following week noticed a correction. Maybe the cooking time was wrong or an
ingredient was left out. Had I followed the recipe, it might have been a
disaster.
Such corrections make me cautious when trying new recipes. Now I always read through the ingredients
and directions several times, looking for anything that might be off. Baking cookies at 500 degrees—no way.
Recently I came across an Iranian-inspired Legume Noodle Soup recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi.
It had a lot of ingredients, but the one that seemed
strangest to me was this: “about 2 cups cilantro leaves, chopped.” That’s a lot of cilantro. Unlike fresh parsley, fresh cilantro has a
strong flavor. I assumed this was a
mistake, but I never saw a correction.
Feeling adventurous one afternoon, I decided to make this
soup. It took several hours, and I
considered leaving the cilantro out or adding just a few sprigs. I didn’t want to ruin the dish.
However, I have used Ottolenghi recipes before with success. So
I took a leap of faith and added all the cilantro specified. Happily it did not overpower the soup. Instead, the cilantro mellowed out when
cooked. I barely tasted it.
I guess the lesson here is to use recipes written by
someone you trust.
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