Hello Fresh (and Goodbye-again)

So I got a call the other week from my good friends at Hello Fresh asking me to come back to the service.

As a reminder, the ethos of the company is casual and friendly correspondence to lead you to casual and friendly mid-week meal solutions. They tried to entice me with the improvements to their services in the past months based on customer feedback ("we're listening to you!")- promises of more choice, more flexibility, and less commitment, which is all well and good if those are the reasons why you discontinued the weekly service in the first place.

I had to remind this man who "listens to the customer" that the reasons for leaving include the daytime-only delivery times and the price of the boxes. Belligerently, he tried his best sales tactics by letting me know that each meal only equates to £6.50 per person and that I can leave the box with my neighbour if I know the weather is going to be hot. I found myself heatedly scolding him to remember that in places other than London, a mid-week meal for £6.50 should be feeding two people and that in places other than London, it is not suitable to leave the box with your neighbour who works nights, so doesn't need to be disturbed midday to accept my overly priced groceries.  "Oh, but how about having it delivered to work? Most companies are very understanding these days." To which I replied, "that's alright if you don't take public transportation". In the end, the salesman gave me a discount and offered the box at £25 to see if I could be persuaded back. I took it knowing full well it would really, really be my last.

So, what was in the box?! The first visible improvement of another plastic bag! Rather than the WoolCool chucked on top the of the produce as in the first order, the WoolCool and meats/ cheeses/ dairy products were contained in their own separated plastic bag. This is an improvement because my fish was leaking in the first box I received, and had this happened again, the warm fish-juices would have been separate to the fresh herbs and vegetables.

Unpacking the box was entirely disappointing, apart from the next visible improvement to the order... the menus were contained in their own cute little placard envelope, suggesting a little bit more love was taken when packing the box. However, the laughter kicked in as I began to read the menu cards... Chicken Milanese with Toasted Almonds and Broccoli (sparse looking, but keep reading), Moroccan Skirt Steak with Spinach and Lemon Couscous (more promising, the picture of the plate looks full), and pizza! They've sodded off the fish for Wholegrain Pitta Pizzas with Roasted Red Pepper and Prosciutto, and my-oh-my, does the picture of the pizzas look sad! No cheese, a few leaves of rocket, and some red-stuff smeared on the pittas. Let's unpack the box and see how dismal this will actually be.

I can't find the picture of the box completely unpacked, which is disappointing; however, I do remember that there was a full, large bag of baby spinach (win!), the largest red pepper that I have ever seen (win, again), but certainly not enough meat for two meals for two people. Much like my 15 Minute Meal adventures, I would assume that the portions are in line with national guidelines, thus insufficient for people that are active, and especially insufficient for someone who only eats a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. And although I do not actually have the unpacked picture, I have the contents list for the purpose of the pricing exercise below... so, where does the cost come from?

Ingredient                                 Average B'ham Sainsbury's Price

Chicken Breast x2                   £3.00

Spring onion x1                       £0.30

Carrot x1                                £0.30

Broccoli head x1                     £1.30

Oregano x2 sprigs                   £1.00

Coriander x 1 bunch               £1.00

Garlic 1/3rd of a whole clove   £0.50

Rocket- small handful               £1.00

Baby Leaf Spinach- 1 bag        £2.00

Passata- 200g                          £1.00
Lemon x2                                £0.60
Red Onion x1                          £0.50
Red Pepper x2 large                £1.50
Prosecutor pack of 5 slices       £2.00
Mozzarella ball                        £1.00
Skirt Steak 300g                     £4.00
Thyme fresh sprigs                  £1.00
Flaked Almond                       £1.00
Couscous                               £1.00
Panko Breadcrumbs                £1.00
Spice mix                                £1.00
Wholegrain Pitta x4                 £1.00
Creme Fraiche 250mL            £0.60

TOTAL: £27.60...

Well, I am surprised at this because at the time, it did not look like a lot of food for £27.60, but it also possibly explains why my grocery bill is so high for the weekly shop. At the same time, I wouldn't shop in this way- for instance, I have a herb garden that keeps us going all year round and I buy the ugly vegetables (like peppers) for a fraction of the price of the first class shapes. Building on this thought though, Hello Fresh wouldn't buy items like breadcrumbs and couscous for the full price; I would think that they bulk buy to bring their costs down. In any case, however disappointed I feel with the contents of the box, it looks like I've managed to get it without the cost of getting it from London to my door step.

And how was the food? Well laid out with a new trick to the bag- I make breaded chicken or pork at least once a month, but have never used creme fraiche as a coating rather than the egg and flour wash. Although, the coverage wasn't as even as I normally would achieve- I'd attribute this to the breadcrumb rations I was given instead of the creme fraiche pre-application.

With added broccoli.

All in all, not too bad as you can see... we added a side of roast potatoes to fill the gap. But honestly, this was hardly a ground breaking meal!

Night two we tried the Skirt Steak. I did purchase another slice of steak to entertain our more carnivorous side and to keep the iron levels up, but kept everything else as is.

For this meal there was a portioned little spice packet called "Ras El Hanout" which "may sound like the name of a Moroccan baddie from a James Bond Movie, but it's actually the hero of this tasty dish."... Who are these jokers?! Obviously trying to appeal to yuppie hipsters of my demographic tic-box origin, thus likening a phrase that sounds foreign to the "baddies" AND mixing up their equally stereotypical white middle-aged heroes. Everyone knows that it's more like an Indiana Jones baddie rather than a Bond one. Hmph! I'll do my own Wiki-searching, thank you very much, and learn that this "culinary magic carpet ride" is likely to contain aromatic North African spices. I definitely sensed the cinnamon, clove, paprika, and cumin; where the flakes that you see in the picture below are dried rose petals for effect.

How was it? Surprisingly big, however not as much of a culinary journey as it suggested it might be. When you are from the land of Alberta Beef flame grilled all year 'round, then beef in a frying pan is always unsatisfactory. And had I planned it before tucking in, I should have made this on day 1 to have leftover couscous for day 2.

And the pizza, you ask?

Apparently, "Sous Chef Ali has been on a mission...all the taste of Italia without enduring a flight on a low cost airline.". 

I think we still have the spirit of the low cost airline in this meal with a few sprigs of leaves and oregano on some tomato passata. This dish is meant to "literally swoop you off your feet to a pizzeria in Napoli", or rather to the low-cost airline nearest airport to Napoli. Maybe Ali was too busy daydreaming about Napoli to remember that any exposed bits of pitta in the oven quickly turn into tooth-chippers. If this is what Napoli is all about, then I think I will leave it a few more years and stick to Pizza Express where you can almost always get two full and fresh "Italian" pizzas for £6.50 per head. At least I still had some leftover spinach and rocket to make an accompanying salad.

15 Minute Meals- Part 5: Chilli con Carne Meatballs

I can admit that I am far behind in my 15 Minute Meals blogging... this is post number five and I have a backlog bringing me up to 15. In any case, what can I say about this beef dish? First of all, no self-boasting from Jamie, which makes me more at ease. The plates are well presented from a glance, but when you actually look at the plates, there is not an abundance of meat on the small plates. I can say (if I haven't already), that this is a good diet book- 437 kcals per plate. This meal is meant for four; it was eaten by the two of us + a mate. But let's break it down:

Ingredients out: 

Bulgar wheat! How exciting! I have not ventured far into the land of grains, and I am excited to give this a try AND within 15-or-so minutes. With the bulgar wheat, one preserved lemon (I used a fresh one) and one cinnamon stick. There are also a good selection of herbs and spices in this dish: garam masala, jarred red peppers, smoked paprika, fresh coriander, cumin seeds. In the Ministry of Food book, combinations such as these have never disappointed. 

Get the flavoured bulgar wheat going and crack on with the mince- salt, pepper, and garam masala. You are instructed to make four meatballs out of 400g of lean minced beef. 100g of meat per person is a suitable portion; however, I decided to adapt this instruction based on the previous 15 Minute Meal cooking and break the meatballs into six... in the future I would break these down even further again. In any case, four minutes in and I am feeling confident.

Paragraph two: get Kenny out to blitz the peppers, spring onions, paprika, passata, half of the coriander, and salt & pepper. Bring the liquid to the boil in a heated frying pan and simmer. If you choose to eat grilled chili peppers, then blacken them under the grill now. 

The third paragraph asks to add the beans and cumin seeds to pan of meatballs... but, doesn't say how long to fry them off for. I chose to warm the beans through until the cumin seeds were aromatic. This might have been a mistake as it brought me a bit close to 15 minutes.

At 12 minutes, I've transferred the meatballs into the sauce and continued to simmer down. Or simmer up... the trouble with this sauce is that although it is tasty, it's jumping all over the place! It's all up the wall, all over the hob, all over the book (hence the splatter in the first picture). I thought about a spatter-guard but I have never been able to aptly control the steam so not to make a sauce too watery. 

As the sauce simmers to the 15 minute mark, I check the meatballs... still pink :( 

Simmer and splatter on, the dish is finished in just under 20 minutes. As you can see, my portion is larger than the four mini-dishes and I've included a side-salad to add some extra colour and fibre. And how did it taste? This was super tasty! One might even call if "fresh" in an urban dictionary sense. Jamie's concoction of eastern flavours and tomato rich dishes wins again. The bulgar wheat was tender, well flavoured, and a great alternative to rice. This dish is kept fresh (not in an urban dictionary sense)- all dressed up with yoghurt, spring onions, and coriander. A "well-wicked" midweek meal!

Strawberry Short(tall)cake

With Craig's birthday the other week, I asked the birthday boy what cake he would like... something strawberry was the response. I remember this really fantastic strawberry shortcake that had a regular spot at the Sunday brunch at my old skating and social club. Now, how to make it? I remember the sponge was dense, but light (I know it sounds counter-intuitive), it was layered with a sweet cream and a light strawberry jam, topped with fresh strawberries and a whipped cream icing. It was light with substance; sweet, yet fresh; and incredible delicious!

I Googled strawberry shortcake to see what I could find... nothing close to what I was looking for. It appears that in the UK a strawberry shortcake is something else: more of a cream tea: a cakey scone with jam and clotted cream. I've been baking and playing enough in the past year that I could probably have whipped something up, but I am also a sucker for a crutch... So, I used the image function to try and find a recipe from what I remember the cake to look like, and found something close enough. I found out that I was not the only person with this dilemma (although not the exact circumstances), but a Mom with an idea in her head of what she wanted inspired me in the right direction. Hope Studios Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Four components: vanilla sponge, pastry cream, strawberry coulis, and whipped cream icing. Mrs. Juniper has included all of the ingredients and instructions to recreate her dream cake. Ingredients out... let's get going: 3 cups cake flour. Crap. Cake flour, what the heck is that? Cake flour certainly doesn't exist in the UK, and I couldn't find a straight explanation of what it equates to... and then 2 sticks of butter (which I did find the equivalent to): I decided to pack this sponge recipe in for something I could make without having to translate beforehand. Mary Berry to the rescue for a fail-safe Genoise sponge.

125g caster sugar, 4 eggs, 2 lemons (I had only one, so I used an orange), 125g self-raising flour, and 50g unsalted butter.

The normal pre-steps apply: pre-heated oven (180C/350F), greased + floured + lined 23cm loose bottom tun. Then, the making: sugar, eggs, and zest to a heat-proof bowl over a simmering pan of water. Electric whisk over medium heat until the mix has doubled in volume and is pale in colour. We are gently starting to cook the eggs as we whisk them to help keep a light (but dense) structure. When the mix ribbons (makes a nice trail as you lift out the whisk), remove it from the heat.

Then sift 2/3 of the flour and gently fold with a metal spoon  or spatula. Add the remaining flour and keep folding to keep the mix light. Melt the butter and gently fold that in. Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for 25 min.

My Genoise sponge seemed a bit thin after baking, possibly because my cake tin is massive, but I think my folding was a bit aggressive. Alternatively applying some of my science head + experience in the past year (especially with meringue), I think that the orange was the flattener--> orange oil is a heavier oil than lemon zest: oil + whisked egg does not allow the eggs to lift as much as desired. I learnt this from making macarons and using a bowl that Edge hadn't washed up properly... oops. In any case, I made a second sponge to make a taller tiered cake.

While that was baking and cooling, on to the pastry cream: I decided to abandon the Hope Studios recipe for this and try something I have wanted to try for a long time: crème pâtissière. Mostly because if I ever want to join one of the Bake Off shows, a crème pâtissière is a standard trick to have... also because the crème pâtissière recipe was next to the Mary Berry Genoise sponge recipe.

600mL milk, 4 eggs + 2 yolks, 1 tbsp kirsch (I used Disoronno), vanilla pod, 180g caster sugar, 100g cornflour, 150g cubed unsalted butter at room temperature

Milk into a wide based pan. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and add to the milk with the seeds. Bring the milk to the boil and take off the heat.

Whisk the eggs, sugar, liqueur, and cornflour into a medium bowl until blended.

Remove vanilla pod and pour hot milk (through a sieve to get any clotted bits out) into the egg mix. Whisk to combine.

Pour the custard back into a clean pan and set over medium heat. While it sets, keep stirring to prevent lumps. This felt like it took forever and I thought my arm was going to fall off. But as if it was magic, it started to congeal. Success! The recipe says to keep cooking until very thick (pipeable). Stir in the butter until thoroughly melted and combined. Allow to cool and set.

Back to the actual recipe that I found for the strawberry coulis: she calls fro the frozen strawberries, but I had fresh, so added about a quarter cup more sugar than called for. 1.5 pounds of strawberries, 1.25 cups sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 star anise pod, 1 vanilla pod split lengthwise.

Puree strawberries until smooth. Oh, the smell is incredible! Add the strawberries and remaining ingredients to saucepan and simmer to dissolve the sugar. 

Continue to simmer stirring occasionally and visibly thickened. (with the volume reduced by half). So, top tip when reducing a volume of liquid... use a large mouthed pot. this took absolutely ages (>30 min) to reduce and the only thing  I could think to do was to open it up to evaporate the water off faster. 

Upping the heat is wrong for two reasons: 1) it would have burnt a skin on the inside of the pot, I didn't do this, but 2) if you don't hover over the pot, it causes the mix to boil over and stick to the hob and the outside of the pot. This, I did do and two weeks later I am still trying to scour my ceran worktop.

I wasn't sure when I would know that the coulis was finished. The danger is that if you haven't evaporated enough, then when it sets it's still a liquid. Mrs. Juniper suggests to place a teaspoon of the coulis on a chilled plate and put the plate into the freezer for a minute. Touch then coulis to see if it has set. This worked well- the top tip and the coulis. Thank you Mrs. Juniper. Oh, and to finish off the coulis, take out the big things and let it set.

Onto the whipped cream frosting, and this is what I was really looking forward to making! A sturdy, sweet cream to hug around the layered fruity goodness.

Make some unflavoured gelatin according to the package. You will only need 8 teaspoons (40mL). Let it thicken the water, but not fully set. Whip 2 cups of heavy cream with 1/2 cup sifted icing sugar until it is slightly thick. With the mixer on slow, add the gelatin solution to the whipping cream and then turn up the power until stiff. 

This recipe is exactly to my expectations! It gives the cream some substance. It allows the cream to set. It prevents the cream from soaking into the cake entirely. This is a winner! 

So, all of the components prepared (and this really took all day). Let's build a cake!

First to cut the sponges to a semi-regular circular shape. I scanned the kitchen to try and find a circle that would suffice- pot lid- check. Then, layer up: strawberry sauce generously smoothed over the sponge with the crème pâtissière piped on top. The next sponge layer + coulis + crème layer etc. until your cake is as tall as you want it. Top it all off with the rest of the strawberry coulis. This will help keep the sponge moist for days (if your cake lasts that long).

It looks a bit of a fright, but that's the beauty of the stiff whipped cream. Spread it generously around the outside and then smooth it with your palette knife. Slop and smooth some more stiff cream on top of the coulis and decorate with fresh (or slightly stewed) fruit. 

Lastly, get fancy with the rest of your cream and dress it all up. The brilliance of piping (especially with the star-shaped attachment  is that you can hide a multitude of sins in a somewhat fancy way. Fancy in a rustic way, though... not elegant fine-dining. However, if this was to be a fine dining strawberry shortcake, then it would be de-constructed and dehydrated and science-experimented out of what we set out to create in the first place.

So, what was it like? Just as I imagined/ remembered! Apart from my sponge was a little bit dry, but when we ate the cake the next two days (yes, it did last that long), it stayed moist. In a professional sense, all the layers were uneven and there was perhaps too much indulgent crème pâtissière... but in a home-made-I've-made-the-most-delicious-birthday-cake sense, it was perfect. Oh, and like I alluded to earlier... it took absolutely ages to make (like 5 hours), so you need all day, but it was entirely worth every last crumb.

Hello Fresh (and goodbye)

I was introduced to a new food buying concept called  Hello Fresh from a colleague. I really love the whole idea and what they are trying to do: claims of fun and delicious cooking each week, fresh and high quality ingredients, a cute little welcome pack that makes promises of community and contact directly to all those named on the box- all delivered to your doorstep on a weekly basis.

An introductory offer was on a Groupon-type site just as my colleague was talking about it, so I thought "let's give it a go!". The offer asks you to sign up on the very welcoming and fresh-looking website on an ongoing basis- boooo, and you are not pressured to stay signed up if you cancel between certain hours before the deadline of 7pm on Tuesday evening. Delivery is to your doorstep between the hours of 9am and 4pm on any Tuesday or Thursday of your choosing. You can sneak a peak at the menu of the week and if it doesn't suit, then you have a no hassle post-pone option until you see something that you prefer. Your options are a three or five menu box: meat or vegetarian. Simple, right?!

So, I pick a Tuesday where the  weather will be cool enough for the ingredients to sit on the porch and not spoil until Craig or I comes home from work. A welcoming looking box has appeared and opening it the message and ingredients look good- they have positioned two big, juicy, pungent leeks on the top. Pungent leeks to mask the smell of the defrosting fish- which was open and juicing in the box as I later found out. So far so good-ish.

The offer was 15£ for three meals, normally three meals are 39£. Let's see what we have and if it was worth it:

Get the ingredients out! Impressive fresh herbs and leeks. The veggies looked good, although a bit sparse. The meat looked of good quality, but small. Big worry number 1: three chicken thighs for two people? Craig usually eats three chicken thighs on his own. The two cod fillets supplied were of nice quality, but again what I normally have myself. On the up-side: the pork steaks were about right. On the cute side: there was a little brown paper sack with the little ingredients in little sachets and plastic bottles: truffle oil, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, oregano... nice (insert cute little smile and upward shoulder shrug here).

Most importantly, what does the food taste like? First up: Chicken Yakitori with Crispy Red Onions and Sweet and Sour Noodles. The head chef Patrick has created pictorial menu cards complete with caloric content, timing, and a little story of how the recipe came to be. 

When I placed the ingredients, my big worry number 1 was confirmed: A spring onion, two nests of noodles, three small chicken thighs, and a handful of beans. I would assume that the portion sizing for the meat is ok, but one onion and a handful of green beans is really only two servings of your five-a-day, so the meal is only supplying one of your five a day for dinner. Good job I have my booster pack of veg!

 Ingredients Out

All chopped up

 Booster ingredients with some colour

The instructions are easy to follow- 8 steps in total with little Top Tip- rolling the lime will make it easier to juice. I also cooked my chicken in a way I never had before- under the oven grill. I was sceptical about this, but it worked well! The food was tasty- not bursting with flavour, but a descent mid-week meal. The booster veg and chicken was definitely needed, unless you are portion sizing or on a diet.

Meal number two was Thick Cut Pork Chops with Sage Butter and New Potatoes. Another enticing looking instruction card and a story about purple sprouting broccoli, and how over cooked pork chops have the texture of a Bedouin's flip-flop. I didn't think they wore flip-flops?!

I have more positive expectations for this one: look at all the spuds on the plate! I'm still disappointed with the handful of long-stemmed broccoli, no stems in this house! 

An interesting instruction on this menu card: chop the garlic in half and rub firmly all over the pork chops. Rub garlic? Interesting. I rubbed it, then crushed it, then mixed the crushed garlic with the olive oil and rubbed it again. Also what was interesting, but really tasty and had a fantastically appetising aroma: instruction number 7: butter and oil frothing in the frying pan with sage, water, lemon juice, salt and pepper... only critique is that another clove of garden would have been divine.

And how did it taste- good flavours, definitely enough spuds, and with an extra bunch of broccoli, the plate was tasty. The (oven-grill cooked) pork was tender and flavoursome.

Dinner number 3 of 3- I haven't tried. It's the cod dish and I will more than likely wait until Edge is away fishing overnight. I re-packed the leaking steaks safely into the freezer and the accompanying potatoes can wait another week- they sent three massive spuds and two titchy fish steaks and the some-of-your-one-of-your-five-a-day were the gigantic leeks. I like leeks, but not as the sole green vegetable on the plate. hmph!

But, would I do it again? No, £39 for three mid-week meals is far too expensive. Yes the fresh ingredients come from London, but there is no need for London rates. The value of the box was probably only about 15£, so at least it was worth what I paid. The two biggest downsides to the service are 1) the delivery times- you need to be home during the day and I feel like this defeats the purpose. If I was home during the day, I would spend at least half of the day either searching for fantastic ingredients at the butcher, the green grocer, the market, etc. unless you run a day-care, then I can see how this would work.

The second thing that could do with improving is the menu selection: Edge doesn't eat fish and fish is always on the menu. A pick-list selection where you can sub-in something of equal value to your taste would improve the service. However, in regards to this, Hello Fresh is very open and prompt in receiving feedback. This being a new service, I believe it will evolve, and I will let my colleague let me know how it gets better.

What worked: the ingredients were packed on ice and fresh, the menu cards are trendy and easy to use, customer service was friendly and prompt, and the food was tasty enough. If you haven't tried it, I prompt you to do so to find out for yourself... it's easy enough if you are scared of cooking and most dishes cooked with fresh ingredients are going to turn out satisfactorily.