Vegetarian Country Captain

In five years subscribing to Cooking Light, we haven't once found a recipe that we didn't like at all. Until today, that is. The recipe in question is Vegetarian Country Captain, a vegetable "stew" from their January 2011 issue.

First of all, it's worth noting that this recipe was originally published with the wrong picture (!!), which gave us the impression that we'd be eating something much different than what we wound up with. This may have something to do with our misgivings about the recipe - but probably not.

What we actually wound up with was a curry-based dish with cauliflower and edamame. It took roughly 30 minutes to prepare and a whopping 17 ingredients, half of which needed to be chopped, diced, or toasted. The prep work didn't take very long, but for all that effort, the final dish was disappointing.

The recipe goes a little something like this: saute onions, add apples, add flour and seasoning. Add broth and bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 minutes on low heat until the mixture thickens. Incorporate the mango chutney, whipping cream, and kosher salt, then add cauliflower and edamame and cook for 8 minutes. Serve over the rice, using the remaining ingredients (almonds, currants, green onions, and cilantro) as toppings.

Beyond that, we just can't get too excited about recapping this recipe, it was that disappointing. Commenters on the recipe page seem a little more enthusiastic, but trust us when we say this was bland, boring, and kind of tiresome to eat. The part we were looking most forward to - the mango chutney - was just plain absent from the flavor profile.

Because we hate wasting food, we'll eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but it will be under extreme duress! Cooking Light still has a great track record, as far as we're concerned, and we're excited to make another recipe from their pages as a palette cleanser.