When GOOD Recipes Turn out BAD

It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while you find a recipe from a cookbook or online that looks terrific and it just comes out BAD.

Not that is was your fault, you followed the directions exactly and bought the best ingredients, but it was just lousy. All that hard work for nothing, not to mention the price of the ingredients.

Before I choose a recipe I always read reviews from people who have made it so I know it is tried and true. I never make anything less than a 5 star rating.

The nice thing about using recipes from food blogs is that you really get an honest opinion from the blogger, usually a home cook, like me, who has tested it out on her/his friends and family before posting the recipe and finished product.

I have been looking for healthier lower fat recipes lately (you wouldn't know it from the mac n cheese and all the cakes I made this month!), and was browsing Serious Eats and found this simple, inexpensive, easy weeknight side dish. The title of the post was "Eating for $8."

I followed the recipe exactly, however, mine came out more like a soup, not looking like the nice mashed potato consistency that the original recipe showed.
What did I do wrong? Nada. It's just one of those things.

Here is the original photo of the pureed chickpeas......(how I hoped it would turn out).



and here is mine, a bland gop of ceci soup.



Ingredients
For the crispy shallots
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
Vegetable oil for deep-frying

For the puree
1 15.5-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure
1. Make the crispy shallots: Place the shallots in a small saucepan and cover with vegetable oil. On low heat, bring oil to a simmer. Maintain a low, steady heat until shallots are golden brown, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain.

2. Make the puree: Place the chickpeas, water, olive oil and ground cumin in a food processor or blender. Blend until texture is creamy and uniform, adding more water if necessary, 1 tablespoon at a time. Transfer to a saucepan over a low flame and heat through. Season to taste.

3. Serve puree sprinkled with crispy shallots. If desired, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

The cumin gave the chickpeas an odd taste and the only redeeming flavor was the delicious fried shallots, which would be amazing on just about anything. To which my husband asked "can you please put these on more things?".

Ok, enough complaining for one day.

What have you made that didn't come out like you thought it would? Do tell.

*a note on 1/16: I received an email from the author of the recipe who retested the recipe and this is what it should look like. I still can't figure out what I did wrong, perhaps it was the brand of chickpeas used. Thanks!