Its been a crazy couple of weeks. We’re both mad busy at work at the moment and the last few weekends have been filled up with family birthdays and a mega trip to Bristol for grillstock (more of which later). So, with all of this in mind, last week, we did something a little bit indulgent and a little bit naughty. We ordered a Hello Fresh box.
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I was asked to review a Hello Fresh box last year and at the time we were both really impressed with the quality of the ingredients and also the recipes themselves. You can see my review here. The meals were lovely but our overarching opinion was that whilst its a nice thing to have, Hello Fresh was probably best suited to aspiring cooks who need inspiration or those who have plenty of money!
Anyway, as I say.. partly indulgence, partly a great offer and partly for ease, we found ourselves ordering a box last week and by far, the standout recipe was this grilled aubergine linguine with chilli, chorizo and sundried tomato. I put a picture of it up on twitter and facebook and was inundated with people telling me they’d loved it too so its clearly a winner all round! It was absolutely delish and I’ll definitely be making it again!
Funnily enough, after discovering and loving Bath Pig Co chorizo over the weekend in Bristol, we then had it in the box for this recipe. Salty and with a warmth from the paprika flavours, it worked perfectly with the grilled aubergine and rich tomato sauce. I chucked in all the chilli flakes to give this a real kick but you can use as few or as many as you like. Or, next time, I’ll use a fresh chilli which I think would work very well.
Ingredients (serves 2):
- 1/3 cup chorizo
- 1 small/medium aubergine
- 220g linguine (or spaghetti)
- 1 tbsp sun dried tomato
- A pinch of chilli flakes
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley
- 2/3 cup diced onion
Method:
You can find the original recipe and more on their website here and also below – this is what their recipe sheets look like:
Process in pictures:
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It looks lovely. I've never used Hello Fresh and I'm sure it's great for inexperienced cooks or those with lots of money as you say. This particular dish has lots of the ingredients in that I already have at home and is the type of meal I'd create for myself anyway so I wouldn't feel I'd need something like Hello Fresh for it. Saying that, the quality of the ingredients looks really good and would probably be better than the ones I might dig out of my cupboards for it!