Review: The Recipe Kit
There is nothing I like more after a hard day at work then getting home, getting into some comfy clothes (translates as pjs and some dashing owl slippers) and cooking something nice to eat. Since I'm no Michelin-starred chef, my something nice to eat normally involves something with pasta, rice or, umm, pasta.
That was until The Recipe Kit. This new service, designed with foodies in mind, serves up globally-inspired recipes straight to your door. The exact quantities of everything you will need for each dish (except maybe for a dash of oil for the pan) is delivered straight to your door, complete with cooking guide, wine suggestions and even the perfect music suggestion to accompany each dish.
There are a number of dishes you can choose from but we opted for the Bavette Steak with celeriac chips, salad and a blue cheese and butter sauce, Jambalaya, Middle Eastern Shepherd's Pie. Nicely packaged, with the ingredients (all UK sourced where possible) for each of the three recipes in separate paper bags, my housemate and I were spoilt for choice when it came to dinner that evening.
First up was the Bavette Steak with celeriac chips (picture 1). The step by step instructions were incredibly easy to follow. Indeed the only thing I struggled with on this dish was cutting the celeriac. Note to self, must invest in a large sharp knife for cutting such vegetables.
From start to finish this dish took no more than 30 minutes, which is brilliant considering we sat down to enjoy a restaurant standard meal (all the dishes have been created by Olia Hercules, who was trained at Leiths and Ottolenghi).
Having never tried celeriac before I wasn't really sure what to expect. Luckily I found it delicious. Very close in taste to a parsnip they made a great, healthy alternative to chips which is what I'd normally have with steak. This was a healthy alternative with no sacrifice of flavour.
The steak is the only thing you may want to stray away from when it comes to the cooking guidelines. The instructions give you the perfect cooking time for a rare steak, so if you like your meat with no pink ignore the cooking time for this part.
For me, I found the blue cheese and butter sauce a bit too much, especially paired with the strong flavour of the shallots in the salad so my housemate ended up with a double portion of that.
Next up was the Jambalaya (2). I expected this to be the trickiest (and the one that would leave me with the most washing up) dish out of the three we had been sent. Happily, it is a one pot dish, hooray for all those that hate doing dishes!
Once I had browned the spicy sausage and chopped the peppers, okra, onion, and celery, all that was left was to add it to the same pan I had used to brown said sausage. Once all the vegetables had browned I added the rice with some water and left for 10 minutes. The last part was to add the prawns and leave until they turned pink, a matter of moments later I was serving up dinner.
This was definitely the easiest and my favourite dish out of the three. Full of flavour and different textures, I'm ashamed to say I devoured this dish really rather quickly. Would definitely order again.
Finally it was the Middle Eastern Shepherd's pie (3). This is the dish I was least excited about if I'm honest, not believing shepherd's pie to be an overly exciting meal. Although I was pleasantly surprised (the addition of numerous spices and pine nuts have turned me into a shepherd's pie convert) this was my least favourite of the dishes.
All in all at £39 for three meals for two people it is definitely something I would order again. It's the perfect solution if you're having guests staying and want to impress, or if you just fancy treating yourself.
Orders can be placed every week from Monday to Sunday for deliveries the following Wednesday, arriving between 6pm and 9pm for Londoners. Orders arrive on Thursday between 9am and 4pm for everywhere else in the UK.
www.therecipekit.co.uk
That was until The Recipe Kit. This new service, designed with foodies in mind, serves up globally-inspired recipes straight to your door. The exact quantities of everything you will need for each dish (except maybe for a dash of oil for the pan) is delivered straight to your door, complete with cooking guide, wine suggestions and even the perfect music suggestion to accompany each dish.
There are a number of dishes you can choose from but we opted for the Bavette Steak with celeriac chips, salad and a blue cheese and butter sauce, Jambalaya, Middle Eastern Shepherd's Pie. Nicely packaged, with the ingredients (all UK sourced where possible) for each of the three recipes in separate paper bags, my housemate and I were spoilt for choice when it came to dinner that evening.
First up was the Bavette Steak with celeriac chips (picture 1). The step by step instructions were incredibly easy to follow. Indeed the only thing I struggled with on this dish was cutting the celeriac. Note to self, must invest in a large sharp knife for cutting such vegetables.
From start to finish this dish took no more than 30 minutes, which is brilliant considering we sat down to enjoy a restaurant standard meal (all the dishes have been created by Olia Hercules, who was trained at Leiths and Ottolenghi).
Having never tried celeriac before I wasn't really sure what to expect. Luckily I found it delicious. Very close in taste to a parsnip they made a great, healthy alternative to chips which is what I'd normally have with steak. This was a healthy alternative with no sacrifice of flavour.
The steak is the only thing you may want to stray away from when it comes to the cooking guidelines. The instructions give you the perfect cooking time for a rare steak, so if you like your meat with no pink ignore the cooking time for this part.
For me, I found the blue cheese and butter sauce a bit too much, especially paired with the strong flavour of the shallots in the salad so my housemate ended up with a double portion of that.
Next up was the Jambalaya (2). I expected this to be the trickiest (and the one that would leave me with the most washing up) dish out of the three we had been sent. Happily, it is a one pot dish, hooray for all those that hate doing dishes!
Once I had browned the spicy sausage and chopped the peppers, okra, onion, and celery, all that was left was to add it to the same pan I had used to brown said sausage. Once all the vegetables had browned I added the rice with some water and left for 10 minutes. The last part was to add the prawns and leave until they turned pink, a matter of moments later I was serving up dinner.
This was definitely the easiest and my favourite dish out of the three. Full of flavour and different textures, I'm ashamed to say I devoured this dish really rather quickly. Would definitely order again.
Finally it was the Middle Eastern Shepherd's pie (3). This is the dish I was least excited about if I'm honest, not believing shepherd's pie to be an overly exciting meal. Although I was pleasantly surprised (the addition of numerous spices and pine nuts have turned me into a shepherd's pie convert) this was my least favourite of the dishes.
All in all at £39 for three meals for two people it is definitely something I would order again. It's the perfect solution if you're having guests staying and want to impress, or if you just fancy treating yourself.
Orders can be placed every week from Monday to Sunday for deliveries the following Wednesday, arriving between 6pm and 9pm for Londoners. Orders arrive on Thursday between 9am and 4pm for everywhere else in the UK.
www.therecipekit.co.uk