What Are Your Happiest Kitchen Accidents (and Most Spectacular Failures)?

This lady just cooked up something great.You know the scene: It's a weeknight, and it's dinnertime. You open the cabinets and fridge. You see olive oil, half-filled boxes of pasta, milk and some wilted lettuce. What the hell are you going to make for dinner? For some, as many of you have said in the comments, this is a thrill. Who knows what will happen! You belong to a naturally intuitive tribe who loves walking into the kitchen without a recipe, throwing in a little of this, a little of that, and seeing what happens. Nigella Lawson has said many times that many of dishes are born from a midnight scrounge of odds and ends.

I am bad at that kind of cooking. Like, spectacularly bad. Several years ago as a novice, curious cook keen on experimentation, I attempted a sweet-salty pairing of anchovies and jam. It seemed so promising in theory, that agrodulce the Italians love so much. But in reality? Weird. I've more or less stuck to recipes since then, at least as a template.

But this week I had the kind of kitchen serendipity that made me want to run around the house pumping my fists like a champion. I opened the fridge at dinnertime to see leftover steamed broccoli from a night of Chinese delivery. I opened the freezer and spied some tightly wrapped Italian sausages. Inside the cabinet, some walnut halves. I hauled the heavy food processor onto the counter, and plopped a garlic clove in. I threw a fistful of walnuts in a skillet until they were fragrant. Into the Cuisinart went the nuts and the broccoli and away they whirred. I drizzled in olive oil until the mixture turned decadently creamy. Eurkea in the kitchen: Broccoli pesto!

Watch: How to make perfect pesto

To some, this might seem a minor triumph. But for me, it was a breakthrough. This wasn't just a serviceable weeknight dinner. Spooned into hot whole wheat pasta with sauteed spicy sausage, this broccoli pesto was outrageously good. My anchovies and jam were but a distant memory, and I got my intuitive cook confidence back.

So then of course I wondered: what other sensational cooking discoveries have come from improvisation?

What have been your happiest kitchen accidents? And maybe, just for fun, what are your most hilariously disasters failures? Brag (and spill) in the comments, please.

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Healthy quinoa recipes
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