‘Adventurous home cooking made easy.’ , Well, sort of!
One big thing for me this new year is about trying to do something different. Up till now I’ve been an enthusiastic eater and a novice cook, but this year I’m hoping to step my game up in the kitchen. Learn a thing or two about making a meal that doesn’t just consist of whole-wheat spaghetti, vegetables and passata (meat can sometimes be too adventurous).
Enter The Recipe Kit. They describe themselves as ‘a foodie company and new delivery service that serves up globally-inspired recipes along with exact quantity ingredients so that food lovers can create restaurant quality cuisine from the comfort of their own home.’
With features in The Guardian, The Times and The Grocer, I was feeling quite confident about allowing myself to be taken on a culinary journey by this company who has a head chef has been trained at Leiths (I Googled and it’s definitely a placed you want a chef to be trained at).
Saffron Chicken with Giant Couscous and Pickled Carrots
Wednesday evening came and I was ready to get my hands dirty, and I don’t meant just from eating. After waiting a full week since placing my order I was armed with a recipe card for Saffron chicken, neatly labelled sauces and spices, fresh produce and poultry ready to dazzle my friend with my moves (or lack of) in the kitchen.
The recipe said it was to take 45mins to cook the entire meal. I estimated it took me around an hour and a half to have it served up. Now this is not because I did not follow the recipe as stated, trust me I wouldn’t really know what to do if I went off course, but there was some confusion with cooking times based on how the instructions that were written.
After the recommended cooking time for the chicken it still wasn’t done. Luckily my friend was on hand to let me know the chicken was still quite pink on the inside, and this was after I had already gotten excited and started to decorate the food on our plates.
A similar incident transpired when it came to ‘cooking through’ the giant couscous – I had no idea how to tell when it was ‘cooked through’ and like the chicken, the instructions seemed to be withholding this key information from me.
However, my learning experience wasn’t totally bad. Apart from the cooking instructions for the chicken and couscous needing a little more detail and the GIANT onion (emphasis needed) that seemed too big to use in a meal for just 2 people, the actual recipe was actually quite nice. I did enjoy this experience of cooking something new and something I never would have thought to try and piece together, which I guess is one of the things The Recipe Kit aims to do.
I loved the section of the recipe for pickled carrots, which I will definitely be making again. The honey, almond and saffron chicken though I thought it was okay and could of done with some extra seasoning, when down a treat with my friend who is much more of a cook than I am.
To sum up would I make this recipe again? Yes, but I would do the recipe differently and use a little more and a little less of some ingredients given, and would have Google on hand to let me know when the chicken and couscous is definitely cooked.
Would I use The Recipe Kit again? Maybe not. What I now appreciate with buying your own ingredients in their entirety is that you can add a little more or less of something to get a flavour you like. With ingredients being measured out all you can hope.
Overall, I think the concept of The Recipe Kit does work for people who have some knowledge of the kitchen, love trying new cuisines, have a bit of money to spend and find themselves too busy to shop at the supermarket.
So if you fit the above profile and you fancy trying something a bit different in the kitchen The Recipe Kit is definitely for you.
Visit their webiste Here: www.therecipekit.co.uk
By Yo_yo
Follow me on Twitter @YoYoinDisguise