How to Try a New Recipe

Written in CBC1.

Hearing my mom call me to dinner, I rushed downstairs, my mouth salivating, until the aroma of meatloaf once again hit me.  I plopped down at the table, picking through the nasty pile of meat for what seemed like the millionth time.  It was time for us to try something new…and it looked like the responsibility fell in my lap.  Not wanting to offend my mom, but desperate for a change, I searched for something that might add a little zest to our meals.
    First, I hunted for a recipe in magazines, online, and in old cookbooks passed from generation to generation, reading through the list of ingredients to make sure I even liked them.  If not, I immediately stopped reading no matter how delicious it looked.  If it sounded somewhat appetizing, I would make a note of it so I could go back to it later.  Tired of going through hundreds of recipes, I called it quits.  Looking back at the ones that seemed interesting, I picked the perfect one for us to try: Roasty Potato Leek Soup.  
    After choosing one, I looked through the list of ingredients to see what we had and didn’t have.  We had potatoes, olive oil, salt, black pepper and milk; however, we had to purchase leeks, chicken broth, sour cream, and Swiss cheese.  Gathering all the ingredients, I looked at step one: ‘Preheat oven to 425°F.  For the soup, peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces.  Wash and trim the leeks.  Chop the leeks into 1-inch pieces.  Place the vegetables in an ungreased roasting pan.  Drizzle with the oil.  Sprinkle with the salt and pepper.  Roast, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are golden brown, about 35 minutes.’  I followed these steps precisely so it would turn out just right.  Looking in the oven, the vegetables were an appetizing golden brown, so I took them out and moved on to step two: ‘Place half of the roasted vegetables and half of the broth in a 5-cup blender.  Cover and blend until smooth.  Pour the pureed vegetables into a large bowl.  Repeat with the remaining vegetables and broth.  Stir the milk and sour cream into the puree.’  We only had a six-cup blender, but I figured it was all right to tweak the recipe just that little bit in this case.  But it wouldn’t have been okay to not cover it while blending; that would’ve been a mess!  Step two: check.  Step three: ‘Reduce oven to 350°F.  Pour the soup into ramekins.  Bake until the soup is bubbly, 20-25 minutes.’  This sure sounded easy enough, but it’s more difficult than it sounds pouring soup into small little ramekins without making a huge mess.  They should add carefully in there somewhere: ‘Carefully pour the soup into ramekins.’  After spilling what seemed like half of the soup onto the table, I stuck the bowls in the oven and set the timer.  Knowing my luck, if I hadn’t set the timer, I probably would’ve forgotten it was in there.  As the timer went off, I checked the soup, which was bubbling at the edges.  On to step four: ‘For the topping, place the Swiss cheese over the soup.  Bake until the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes longer.  Serve immediately.’  They should’ve told me it might be easier to follow this step if I pulled the ramekins out of the oven because trying to place slices of cheese on hot bowls in a scalding hot oven without burning myself proved to be quite the challenge.  (I did manage, but that’s beside the point.)  Five minutes seemed like an eternity because I was so hungry I was absolutely positive I could’ve eaten a horse, but luckily, I survived.  I pulled the ramekins out of the oven, turned the oven off, and then, without delay, grabbed two spoons and two bowls full of steaming hot soup, giving one to my mom.  It was the moment of truth.  We took a bite at the same time, nearly melting when the delicious soup hit our tongues.  
It was like nothing we had ever tasted before, definitely not anything like the meatloaf we ate so often.  We found ourselves overflowing with excitement at how easy it was to add that little bit of zest to our meals and life.  All we had to do was decide we needed something new and different.  Maybe after this success, we’ll try new things more frequently.