Rescuing Cooking Disasters
Over-cooked brussels sprouts
Serve them as a puree and no one will know. Drain the sprouts and puree in a food processor until just smooth, or rub them through a sieve. Stir in a little butter or egg yolk and sprinkle with nutmeg before serving. You can do the same thing with other vegetables such as carrots or parsnips.
Limp lettuce
Crisp up a lettuce that has gone limp and floppy by placing it in a bowl of ice-cold water with the juice of half a lemon. Leave for 30 minutes, dry the leaves and use.
Curdled hollandaise sauce
Stir an ice cube into the warm sauce.
Lumpy sauce or gravy
Smooth out the sauce by whisking hard in the pan. If still lumpy, rub the sauce through a sieve or puree it in a blender.
Curdled egg custard
Quickly plunge the base of the pan into cold water, then whisk in 10ml(2tsp) cornflour for every 570ml (1 pint) of custard. Or pour the custard immediately through a sieve into a clean bowl to remove the curdled parts and cool the sauce quickly.
Dessert sauce too sweet
Tone it down with a little lemon juice.