I've Bean Travelling

From udon to teriyaki salmon, our past week with the Goodfood meal kits was heavily Asian inspired. We did a bunch of stir frying and ate a whole lot of noodles and rice, but I’m not complaining! Mr. Chuckles took a turn preparing a few of them this time, as I had a brutal week at work, staying late to deal with some of the meanest and most irrational people I’ve encountered in my life. These are the joys of working in a public facing profession. At least I was able to come home to some delicious dinners.

Here is my roundup on the last seven Goodfood recipes that we’ve tried.

MONDAY

Stir-fried pork & udon noodles with crispy greens & zucchini.

Our Goodfood week got off to a good start with this dish of stir-fried pork served atop udon, a wheat flour noodle commonly found in Japanese cuisine. It is more often prepared as a noodle soup, but this recipe featured sauced noodles. They were fresh, and turned out nice and springy. The zucchini and gai lan (Asian greens) were sautéed in citrusy ponzu and sweet soy sauce, adding some additional flavour elements.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  | Find the recipe here.

TUESDAY

Saag halloumi with greens & tomatoes over ginger basmati rice.

We last tried halloumi during our first month with Goodfood, when we prepared a Middle Eastern style carrot bowl with couscous. This time, we used the brined cheese in a twist on saag paneer, a traditional Indian dish usually made of leafy greens and paneer, an unaged, non-melting cheese produced by curdling milk with fruit or vegetable derived acid. Halloumi is a Middle Eastern cheese that is a little denser and saltier than paneer. I actually found it a bit too salty for my taste in this particular dish, so I’ll have to knock off a star on my Yum Rating.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

WEDNESDAY

Peanut soy chicken over rice with Asian greens & marinated cucumber salad.

Heading back to East Asia, this week’s recipe featured pan-seared sweet soy sauce chicken thighs, topped with toasted peanuts. I really liked this one; in fact, the chicken dishes with Goodfood have often turned out quite well for us. We liked the crunch from the peanuts and the cucumber salad cut the heaviness with its acidic marinade. This was meant to be served atop a bed of garlic rice, but I was lazy and just used the rice cooker to make plain jasmine rice, which was fine for me.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

THURSDAY

Vietnamese-style caramelized pork bowls over jasmine rice & quick-pickled vegetables.

As you can tell from my previous posts, Vietnamese cuisine is a favourite in this household. I selected this recipe in the hopes that it would reproduce one of my favourite traditional Viet dishes – broken rice with grilled pork. However, it didn’t really turn out like that. It was a plain white rice bowl with caramelized ground pork, accompanied by quick-pickled sweet peppers and cucumbers. The quick-pickling technique was neat to try out and although the dish overall was not quite what I expected, it tasted good and still deserves a top Yum Rating.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

FRIDAY

Mee Goreng with fresh Shanghai noodles, crunchy vegetables & spiced peanuts.

Mr. Chuckles took over the cooking at this point in the week. After a particularly rough day at work with no lunch or water breaks, it was a pleasure for me to come home to this delicious plate of mee goreng, otherwise known as spiced fried noodles. The wheat flour Shanghai noodles were tossed in sweet peppers, carrots, greens, and onions, and then topped with garlicky fried peanuts. Again, the noodles included in the meal kit were fresh, so came out soft and springy. We need to figure out Goodfood’s source for their noodles!

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

SATURDAY

Curried chicken sheet-pan bake with roasted sweet peppers, potatoes & cilantro cream.

I like these single pan recipes as they are perfect for lazy cooks like me. Less to clean up, too. We were given two chicken breasts in our kit, which were seasoned with a curry blend and baked alongside sweet peppers, roasted potatoes, and edamame beans. I enjoyed the cilantro cream that was served on top. I couldn’t detect much of a curry taste in the chicken, but this recipe was still one our all-time favourites from Goodfood.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

SUNDAY

Teriyaki salmon bowls over sushi-style rice with sesame carrots & baby bok choy.

We haven’t had fish for awhile, so I appreciated getting my fix of Omega-3 with this teriyaki salmon bowl. The baby bok choy and roasted carrots went well with the fish, as did the ginger sesame jasmine rice. Mr. Chuckles got a nice sear on the salmon, so he deserves kudos for his culinary finesse on this one. Would eat again.

Yum Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Find the recipe here.

Coming up

• Coconut curry lentil dal with baby greens and currant salad
• Grilled Spanish-style sausages with sweet peppers and baby potato patatas bravas
• Shrimp scampi bucatini with crunchy breadcrumbs and roasted tomatoes