je ne sais quoi

{beet and goat cheese panini}

I mentioned in my last post that I have recently started using Pinterest. My first foray into pinterest-recipe-dom was less than successful (see severed bundt cake), but I figured that was mostly my fault. No, that was completely my fault. Patience has never been my strong suit. After my initial experience my faith in myself may have faltered, but my faith in Pinterest remained steadfast. 

Enter the beet and goat cheese grilled cheese. 

Let me stop right there. How good does that sandwich sound? Right? I love beets and I love goat cheese -- slap on a little arugula and fire that baby in a panini press -- delish. Or not. Last night Jeff and I tried this recipe and although it wasn't offensive, I can't really say anything good about it. It was definitely lacking...je ne sais quoi. Not even a generous amount of sea salt could rescue my taste buds from the monotony of this sandwich. The word "blah" is coming to mind. 

What went wrong? I bought fresh beets at the market, they were sweet, soft and the most beautiful shade of pink. The goat cheese I used was good too -- we got it at Fox Hill Cheese (also at the market) and they never disappoint. What else can I blame? Myself -- an obvious choice, but surely even an imbecile can put together a sandwich. Then it dawned on me -- pinterest is the culprit. 

If other "pinners" are like me, they pin things that look good, not things that are good necessarily. I doubt many "pinners" do their due diligence and vet every recipe they pin. That would be exhausting. So how do you know if a recipe on pinterest is good? 

More importantly what could I add to this sandwich to give it a kick? Jeff said meat, but I disagree. Maybe caramelized onions? What do you think, is this sandwich worth saving?

xo

Em