So today I’m going with a Foodie Friday theme and pulling out one of my Marley Spoon reviews. If you’d like to try it 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.
I also discovered the link to download the recipes cards. So you too can now attempt these recipes at home!
Cumin Steak & Roasted carrots with Cilantro, Raisins, and Cashews
Download the recipe here.
While I hate cumin, I love everything else in this recipe so I figured I’d give it a shot and just omit the cumin. I’ve also never cooked with “sumac” and I was intrigued.
Our usual fresh ingredients:
We wash and cut some carrots and put them on a baking sheet to roast in the oven.
And as I’m cutting them I find the absolute cutest baby carrot in the world. Seriously so adorable. I feel guilty eating it. I mean I still will, but I’ll totally feel bad about it.
Meanwhile, we take the raisins, vinegar and sumac in a small pot and simmer over medium heat. They get removed from heat and the raisins are left to soak while the carrots cook. The sumac sauce looks a little questionable, but there’s no looking back now. The carrots get removed from the oven and we add our simmered sumac sauce (say that fast 3 times) over it.
Next we make the yogurt sauce just by mixing a little water, salt & pepper to make a sauce.
The steaks are supposed to have cumin, salt and pepper, but I just add my own steak seasoning instead and cook them in a cast iron skillet.
We top them with our nuts & parsley and then have this:
Taste: Hit!
I was so pleasantly surprised that the carrot dish tasted lovely. It kind of had a Moroccan vibe that was delicious. The steak was excellent quality and paired well with the yogurt sauce and carrot side. This one was super easy to prepare as well. I wish they were all this simple.
Portion Size: Excellent. Good portion of steak, plenty of carrots.
Good for Entertaining?: Yes. The steak recipe is pretty basic, but the carrot dish is really interesting and definitely something I’d add to a dinner party menu. I’d serve the carrot side dish with a Middle Eastern inspired menu. For the main I’d feature a Moroccan lamb stew, with the carrots and Persian jeweled rice for sides. The appetizer would be something fun like these Sambousek egg rolls. Beverages would highlight rosewater and include a rosewater lemonade and a Raspberry Rosewater Martini. Dessert would be something like a Greek Honey Pie and fresh fruit.
Chipotle Chicken Chowder with Corn Bacon and Potatoes
Download the recipe here.
I’m a sucker for Chipotle, add bacon to that and well, I just couldn’t say no.
More fresh ingredients:
Lots of chopping for this one, including shucking corn and cutting kernels off. I cannot fully explain how much I suck at cutting kernels off a raw ear of corn. They just go everywhere. Please Marley Spoon, do this prep for me. Send me a damn bag of pre-cut raw corn. No one wants to spend their weekend searching for lost corn kernels beneath their fridge and kitchen island.
Next we’re cooking up some bacon until it’s crispy and removing it form the pot. We add in the veggies we’ve chopped, then it’s Chipotle, chicken broth and water.
We cut up the chicken and add it to our pot, then let it cook some more.
Then, we get the fun of picking thyme leaves from their stems because no Marley Spoon box can be complete without us having to pull tiny leaves off something.
We add some cream and salt and pepper. The bowls get topped with bacon and we have this:
Taste: Okay, but a touch chunky and thin
Portion Size: Generous
Putting aside the annoying meal prep, the flavors in this soup were good, but I really wanted the potatoes to be cut smaller and for the soup to be just a touch thicker and creamier. While I know it’s a chowder, the size of the potatoes really made it fall more toward a stew.
Good for Entertaining?: Probably not. The prep is annoying and I’d need to play with the recipe to get it where I wanted.
OVERALL
Verdict: Like!
Both recipes had good flavors and the Steak recipe taught me a new and really interesting side dish. I’d love to see some more unusual ingredients (like the sumac) pop up in future boxes.
Have you ever cooked with Sumac?
Do you like to try unusual ingredients?
Dish!
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.
Marley’ Spoon delivers to the mid Atlantic and New England regions: most of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Washington D.C.
Monthly Cost:
Varies by number of servings and number of meals.
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COUPON CODE: COOKSMART
Lisa Preziosi 