Food Box: Dukkah Crusted Cod with Braised Green Lentils

I guess you’re always going to come across recipes in these boxes that you don’t really get on with, and this was one for me. The first pitfall was sadly Abel and Cole had run out of Haddock this week, so replaced with Cod, which is perfectly fine in itself, but I had already picked a Cod dish so that was a bit of a disappointment.

All the ingredients in themselves were good, it sounded like it would be really filling as the fish is served with both Lentils and Potatoes. I knew it was going to be somewhat light as it was classed under their “light” recipe box category and the nutrition card said only 424 calories so I can’t say I was led up the garden path here but we both definitely felt hungry afterwards! That’s not such a bad thing, it left lots of room for some guilt free ice cream eating!

YAY! I loved the Dukkah crust that was added to the Cod before grilling it. I’d not tried this spice before, it’s of Egyptian origin and is made from almonds and pistachios nuts and sesame, cumin and coriander seeds. It smelt and tasted delicious. Would definitely either buy a jar or make some for my cupboards to use on fish to grill or BBQ in the summer with a fresh crisp salad.

NAY!  The potato, tomatoes and onion were all cooked in the frying pan to soften before adding the lentils and 450ml of boiling water and red wine vinegar to simmer away and cook the potatoes. This felt like far too much water, it was supposed to be broth like, but I personally my sauces to be thicker, or have more depth in the flavour. It just lacked both.  I wouldn’t make this one again, and the recipe card went in the bin, but it was of course completely edible, just didn’t tick the box for me or the hubby.

 

Food Box: Chicken & Peanut Butter Stew

They had me at Peanut Butter when I was scrolling through which recipes on Abel and Cole to pick this week. I LOVE peanut butter.

Slightly disappointingly, I think the peanut butter was actually lost through the tomato and chilli based sauce but the toasted peanuts that were used to garnish the dish brought some of it back.

I loved the cute bottle of cherry tomato passata, and the fact that in this recipe box the chicken had already been diced for me, I hate that job.

It was really simple to make, frying the chicken first and then adding the chopped pepper and onion to soften. The garlic and ginger was grated and added with the chopped chilli before then adding the stock cube, passata and 350ml of boiling water.

This all simmered away nicely while the rice was cooked. Before serving it up garnished with some toasted peanuts and chopped coriander. I liked the fact the dish was really saucy, and a thick sauce at that. It was warm, comforting and full of flavour. A recipe card to keep to make again!

Food Box: Crispy Grilled Cod with Batatas Bravas

Back onto a batch of Abel and Cole Recipe Boxes again this week.  It’s an easy way to keep eating fresh, and organic but I do feel it’s somewhat silly and expensive getting small measured portions of various spices/herbs/condiments when my cupboard is stocked full. These recipe boxes would have been ideal when I lived in a small flat in London, as I never had room to store anything but now we’ve moved out to suburbia it’s less of an issue, especially since getting the sparkly kitchen done last year!

At least at the end of the day there is no actual food waste, and the majority of their packaging is all recyclable. Also, for me, it’s just an interim solution until I’m fully back on my feet without all the pregnancy aches and pains!

I try to but fish when possible from my local fish monger where I know it’s sustainably sourced, but sometimes I do just go for offers on at a supermarket and therefore not certain of its accreditation. Time and money are at the end of the day limiting factors, so that’s another plus for these boxes, all of their fish that ends up in your boxes will meet the MCS 1-3 standards.

First up on the menu this week is grilled cod with sweet potato batatas bravas. I absolutely loved the sweet potato. They were roasted in the oven with some seasoning and paprika and during this time I also roasted tomatoes, onion and garlic which was then blended into a sauce to coat. Generous portion size and truly delicious! Even the Hubbie enjoyed the sweet potato again… if only the toddler would be so accepting of trying new things!

A fillet of grilled cod was served on the side with a fresh rocket salad and then garnished with some parsley so very healthy without a frying pan in sight!

 

Food Box : Rosemary Chicken Schnitzel with Garlicky Roast Sweet Potatoes

The 3rd recipe box from Abel & Cole. I was quite impressed that the life on these is long enough that you don’t feel you don’t need to cook them in quick or close succession. The vegetables and salad are so fresh that they easily last the week, and the chicken here had a date of a whole week on it too.

This recipe is classified as Foodie, I guess because it did involve a fair bit of prep to make the schnitzel. Nothing too taxing ever given the ingredients are already measured out for you, but still the usual dusting, egg dipping and bread crumbing uses a lot of plates and bowls and creates lots of mess!  I really enjoyed the chopped rosemary running through the schnitzel crumb. Something I’d never done before, so have logged that trick for another occasion!

The sweet potatoes were easy to roast away while the rest of the meal was prepped and cooked. Again, it felt like a really big portion, but nothing was indulgent. Sweet Potato is so good for you, it’s full of Beta Carotene for Vitamin A as well as vitamin C and lots more minerals. My husband isn’t really a lover of them so we don’t eat them that often, but he did give it a thumbs up and wipe the plate clean so definitely enjoyed it too!

The recipe takes about 35 minutes, I do find the times on the Abel and Cole Recipe Cards very accurate, so that helps when meal planning for the week and on each day. Again the side salad was nice, but not entirely necessary.

The ingredients arrived like this, I love food and fresh ingredients so opening up the box and sorting the ingredients out feels like a christmas present! I must be mad!

The flavours are good, the sweet potatoes full of garlic and roasted cherry tomatoes are always so tasty, although I find eating them hugely annoying as they always burst across my clothes or the room. Is that just me!?

A big hearty healthy meal that you get to hammer out any frustrations on when flattening the chicken breasts  – what more could you ask for!

Rosemary Chicken Schnitzel with Garlicky Roast Sweet Potatoes and Vine Tomatoes

Food Box: Puttanesca poached whiting with roast potatoes

My Second Abel & Cole box recipe, I chose this one out of their weekly list because it’s not something I would have picked out from a recipe book, or brought together myself. I tend to just buy cod and haddock, sometimes sea bream but not whiting.

I like the way that when it comes to ordering your recipes, you pick your box; either Simple, Foodie, Vegetarian or Light but you can swap things in and out and the price will adjust accordingly.

This recipe came under Simple, and it was. Cut and roast some potatoes and while they cook, make the sauce and then once thickened, poach the fish in it. All in all it took 40 minutes but that is because potatoes will take that long! So I guess it was simple, but just not quick. You can’t have everything!

The final verdict? It was a very hearty dinner, and healthy too. Lots of flavour, I loved the herbs and olives in the tomato sauce giving it that lovely Mediterranean feel that a classic Puttanesca has. I didn’t mind the length of time taken as I cooked it when the hubby was at home so could look after our son while I prepped. I’ve kept the recipe card which obviously means I’d happily cook again. I’d probably cut down some of the portion size as I felt it was really big, it was supposed to have a side salad served with it too, but I left that out and ate the beautiful fresh lambs lettuce separately! Abel and Cole aren’t shy with the ingredients!

Puttanesca Poached Whiting with Roast Potatoes

 

 

Food Box: Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Pancetta Carbonara

I usually love a bit of meal planning, but last week I was feeling under the weather and had such little energy that I decided to order an Abel & Cole Food Box with three recipes in it. No shopping lists, no overbuying of ingredients and no decision making to be done… except for which meal to cook and eat when. That, I can handle.

They are naturally more expensive than cooking recipes from supermarket sourced ingredients, but sometimes it’s worth it. You can also pick up some good trial based offers which make the meals more reasonable. I wanted to give it a go to think if it’s worth the premium when the baby arrives to have one less thing to worry about. I now have a chest freezer full of food, and a COOK on the highstreet but sometimes you want to cook fresh, and this is a great way to do it.

The thing I like about Abel & Cole is the fresh, seasonal, well sourced, organic tasty ingredients and it arrives to your door in a box (that you hand back to be recycled). It couldn’t be simple or fresher. You get a cute recipe card that you can then keep to make yourself another day if you think it’s a great meal!

So the ingredients arrived like this, I used everything except for 1 courgette, 2 seemed to be a bit much within the side salad when cooking for 2, and there was left over farm sourced creme fraiche too – OH YES!

There was quite a bit of prep – chopping the shallots, garlic cloves, broccoli and pancetta. Then also peeling the courgette into strips and making the carbonara sauce. The latter could be done when the pasta is cooking, and because my box arrived late afternoon I didn’t get chance to prep the former during my boys nap, so that took a little more time. For most people that probably wouldn’t be of any concern, but I’m so tired on my feet in the evening I try to get as much done before then as I can!

But in all fairness, this was described as a “Foodie” box with 30 mins on the clock so they were never misleading about the effort involved.

The final verdict? The dish was very delicious, worth the effort – well it was always going to be, we’ve already established that creamy pastas are one of my favourite types of food! It was big, 200g pasta between two is very generous when served with a rich creamy and pancetta sauce, not to mention the seasonal purple sprouting broccoli and large side salad. But I won’t complain, I’m eating for two after all!