Not so gratin

I have a file folder full of recipes I've torn out of old Southern Living and Cooking Light magazines. When I'm at a loss as to what to cook in the coming week (you know, when I actually remember to plan what I'm going to cook in the coming week) I'll flip through the recipes to find something Dave and I might like. This week, I pulled out this recipe from Cooking Light.

Garlicky Spinach-Sausage Gratin

Verdict: something is wrong with this recipe. I consider myself a pretty decent cook. I'm awesome at macaroni and cheese and make a great vegetarian chili, and I can follow a recipe (i.e., I can read.) Rarely do I end up with something that's inedible. This dish was okay last night, and the leftovers I brought for lunch are unpalatable.

I will admit that I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I fudged some of the cooking times--cooking onions for four minutes was taking too long and I didn't check exactly when the sauce started boiling so it might have cooked a little more or less than two minutes. I also completely skipped toasting the breadcrumb topping. But in general, I did what the recipe called for, so there has to be something wrong with the recipe because it's runny as a toddler's nose.

Read the reviews on the recipe--most of the others who have cooked this found it runny and kind of gross. I have to say I'm really disappointed. I'm always impressed by the variety of recipes in Cooking Light, and the last one I made (bacon potato leek pancakes that were eaten before I even thought about taking a picture) was really really good. Something went wrong with this recipe, because it was not so gratin.

(That's supposed to be a pun on "great" but I think it only works if you're not really sure how to pronounce "gratin.")

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In other news, I may have found my wedding dress! Yes, it's early to be thinking about dresses. So I'll spread out the love a little, and wait to talk about the dress in another post. :)