I find myself needing some comfort on this most difficult of Fridays, so I thought a food subscription review would be in order. Today we’ve got some more recipes from Marley Spoon. If you’d like to try out this weekly meal subscription service for yourself, use the coupon code COOKSMART for $30 off.
My meal plan is for a weekly delivery of 2 meals (2 portions each), which costs $48.
Crispy Fried Fish with Collard Greens and Radish Salad
Download the recipe here.
My boyfriend and I don’t eat nearly enough fish so I thought I’d try out this recipe.
Our Fresh Ingredients:
As usual, we start with some chopping. I slice the shallots in tiny rings and pickle them in salt and vinegar then set them aside. I sliced the collard greens and radishes thinly and added them to a large bowl. (Somehow, I forgot to take a picture of that.)
Next we have the, oh so fun batter station, where we get to prep our fish for frying.
The fish gets fried in some oil and then drained on paper towels.
We make a dressing for out salad with the leftover picking vinegar, olive oil, and pepper and toss the greens and radishes.
And this is our finished dish:
Taste: Not great
We’ll start with the positives. The fish was really fresh and I’d never tried uncooked collards before and I thought they were very nice. Unfortunately, the pickled onions took away some of the fish’s crispiness and the flavor was overall lacking. It was just so bland. When I have to go to the effort of making batter and frying something, I expect it to be delicious and this was just mediocre.
Portion Size: Adequate
Good for Entertaining?: Nope, too bland.
Steak and Potatoes with Green Bean Vinaigrette
Download the recipe here.
I love the quality of steak Marley Spoon sends so I had to choose this one for my second recipe.
More fresh ingredients:
We start again with some chopping. First our potatoes and then shallot sand green beans.
The potatoes get boiled and the green beans get thrown in with them in the last 3 minutes of cooking.
We make our vinaigrette by chopping up our green beans and mixing shallots, mustard, vinegar and oil plus salt and pepper. Then we toss the potatoes in it.
The steaks are just seasoned with salt and pepper then grilled to the time listed on recipe card and are allowed to rest.
But when I cut them, they are pretty much still mooing. I had to throw the cut strips back in the skillet to cook for a few more minutes. I frequently find that the cooking times from Marley Spoon for steak tend to be a bit low.
Our completed dish:
Taste: Love!
I really loved the flavors of the potato salad. It’s a great alternative to the mayo based recipes. I could see it working alongside a variety of dishes. The steak still tasted lovely even after I had to cook it a little extra. I like rare/medium rare steak but that was just a bit too close to raw. This dish also didn’t involve too much fuss or prep.
Portion Size: Excellent
Good for Entertaining?: Yes. The steak part isn’t much of a “recipe”, but I’d definitely use the potato salad for entertaining. It could be a great side at a BBQ or a sophisticated potato dish for a dinner party. For the latter, I’d pair it with chicken cordon bleu as the main dish with a wild mushroom soup as a starter. Dessert would be a lemon ricotta cake with fresh raspberries. For cocktails, I’d serve different kinds of spiked iced tea, like Peach Whiskey and Blackberry Bourbon.
OVERALL
Verdict: Okay
The fish entrée was just mediocre but the steak dish was wonderful, so I guess that evens out to a decent box. I’d love to see more creative sides like the fancied up Potato salad and less of the “greens with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper”. I think all of us can come up with the latter on our own. I think most of us who subscribe to these services do so in order to try new dishes and get out of a cooking rut. For me, I’m particularly interested in easy, but flavorful veggie sides, so the constant “lettuce with a vinaigrette” is disappointing.
Have you tried any food subscriptions?
If so, what were your expectations and did the box meet them?
THE BACKSTORY
Marley Spoon creates delicious, easy to follow recipes.
They deliver fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and you select your recipes from their changing weekly menu.
They are dedicated to sourcing organic and sustainable whenever possible. Building relationships with environmentally aware farms and producers ensures that the highest quality ingredients arrive at your door each week.
Using trusted delivery partners, your Marley Spoon boxes come insulated and chilled, staying cool for 30 hours! After delivery, all the ingredients are guaranteed to stay fresh for up to 4 days – allowing you to decide when to cook.
Marley’s Spoon donates any leftover ingredients to City Harvest. City Harvest exists to end hunger in communities throughout New York City through food rescue and distribution, education, and other practical, innovative solutions.
Each week you’ll automatically receive great dishes, but as a flexible subscription, you can skip a week or pause your subscription anytime. You can also change delivery frequency, recipes, and the number of portions you’d like to receive.
Monthly Cost:
Varies by number of servings and number of meals.
Check here for the configuration of your choice
COUPON CODE: COOKSMART
Lisa Preziosi 