Hello Fresh – our fifth (and penultimate) box

It’s been over a month since I cancelled out Hello Fresh subscription, and hasn’t it been the longest month ever – and we all thought January was bad! This is our penultimate box, so I’ll be posting the final one soon too. Despite all the problems we encountered, it’s times like these I would recommend a subscription box, especially with all the issues with getting fresh produce from the supermarket. But what did I cook this week?

Monday:        Coconut dal with roasted butternut squash, crispy onions and naan

Meat-free Monday got a bit exciting. Exciting and exotic. This gorgeous curry was perfectly spiced, so fragrant and filling. Roasted squash is definitely my thing. The mix of curried lentils, crispy onions and crunchy pumpkin seeds was great. I managed to freeze the leftovers, and it made a great accompaniment to a chicken rogan josh I made. In fact, I would definitely make this again, with the view of serving it as a side dish for an at-home curry night!

Tuesday:     Steak strips, cheesy chips and posh gravy, with roasted broccoli

You can’t beat some early week comfort food – and this hit the spot nicely. Cheesy chips and gravy are the absolute one (I promise I’m not in the slightest bit northern with my love for that combo) and this gravy was a little bit special. A full-on steak with garlic mushrooms would have probably been more to my liking – but I’m not fussy. This is a dish that can be easily replicated and adapted and I think I’ll try it my way next time.

Wednesday: Honey mustard glazed pork with mash, sautéed leeks and cabbage

Honey & mustard is my go-to marinade for pork chops/steaks, so I always knew I’d love this recipe. The real game-changer were the gorgeously buttery sautéed green veg, which I could have easily stirred into the mash to oomph that up a notch! It’s a recipe I’ll cook again and again – and one I probably don’t really need to keep the card for. It was so close to being my recipe of the week, but for Friday...

Thursday:    Sweet & sour chicken with red pepper and bulgar wheat

I’m definitely the fakeaway type, or after for healthier versions of my favourite Chinese dishes. Sweet and sour doesn’t fall into that category. I’ve made loads of homemade versions and never get the sauce right – it’s always missing a little something. I really wasn’t a fan of the bulgar wheat either – the texture and the method of cooking (it was similar to couscous, which just doesn’t go with a Chinese dish). I don’t think I’d use this specific recipe again.

Friday:                  Speedy bbq sausages with sweet potato fries and bacon jam

Okay, so we can bypass the sweet potato fries, because they were just soggy as per. Does anyone even like them? Or have any tips for them to be crispy and not stick to the baking tray? Let’s admire the thing of beauty – the hot dog. I don’t like hot dogs, but this was a proper jumbo meaty sausage in a brioche bun. The extra piggy goodness that was the bacon jam elevated it to the next level... doesn’t it just look beautiful? Fakeaway Friday at its very best and the perfect snack when the football finally returns to our TV screens/lives.

Love, Lucy xx

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