I've Bean Travelling

I should really eat more vegetables. This last week’s worth of Goodfood meal kits helped address my produce deficiency, with about half the meals being fully vegetarian and the others being at least ‘vegetable forward’.

MONDAY

Pork larb noodle salad with rainbow vegetables & sweet-chilli lemongrass vinaigrette.

Larb, also known as laap, is a traditional Lao meat ‘salad’ that is regarded as the unofficial national dish of Laos. We ate a lot of this on our trip to the Southeast Asian country last year, and even learned how to make it during on cooking class in Luang Prabang. The authentic version of this dish is served with herbs and sticky rice, which you eat with your hands, but the modified, whitewashed version from Goodfood featured spiced ground pork atop a bed of Shanghai noodles and sliced vegetables. The meal was good overall, even if it was far from authentic.

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

TUESDAY

Hawaiian-style shrimp poke bowls with pineapple, pickled shallot & sesame-nori rice.

Here’s another food that I was introduced to during my travels. Poke is one of the main dishes of Native Hawaiian cuisine, consisting of raw diced fish usually served with sushi-style rice and Japanese-inspired seasonings like soy sauce and sesame oil. Again, the Goodfood version was a simplified take, with pan-cooked shrimp and pineapples. I also had the chance to try quick-pickling again, this time with shallot. The rice turned out sushi-esque but not quite right. Overall, I’d say this one was just okay.

Yum rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½ | Find the recipe here.

WEDNESDAY

Crispy baked garlic tofu over yaki udon with baby bok choy.

Going full vegetarian, this dish featured oven baked crispy tofu. I find it difficult to produce well-seasoned tofu, and this attempt was not anymore successful, although I did manage to achieve the crispy effect. The udon noodles were the saving grace, but Mr. Chuckles still refused to eat this meal due to his aversion toward tofu. I’ll have to add tofu to my list of ingredients to avoid when cooking for Mr. Chuckles, along with halloumi, kale, and couscous. 😏

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

THURSDAY

Vegetarian niçoise platter with string beans, baby potatoes & hard boiled eggs.

The Niçoise salad hails from Côte d’Azur, usually including protein dense anchovies or tuna, but this Goodfood variation was vegetarian. We still got a hefty dose of protein from the hard boiled eggs, which were served on top of sliced radishes, lettuce, blanched string beans, and roasted potatoes. I wasn’t sure how satisfying this meal would be, but I actually ended up finding it to be one of the best from the week.

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

FRIDAY

Turkey barbacoa bowls with Baja vinaigrette & seared sweet peppers.

Barbacoa is a form of meat cooking that originated in the Caribbean, and now commonly refers to a form of slow cooked meat prepared over open fire, popular in Mexico. There was no open flame or slow cooking for our meal though; we just went with a standard skillet. The ground turkey was seasoned with a blend of chilli powder, garlic, paprika, coriander, cumin, oregano, and lime oil, served on top of spiced rice with a side of seared sweet peppers. The citrusy Baja vinaigrette helped cut the richness. This was one of our less vegetable-focused meals of the week but a favourite of all the Goodfood kits we’ve tried so far.

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

SATURDAY

Crispy roasted cauliflower taco bowls with pico de gallo, spiced rice & avocado crema vinaigrette.

Gotta get those cruciferous veggies in. One of our most recent Goodfood creations was this cauliflower ‘taco bowl’ which featured roasted cauliflower seasoned with a taco spice blend, along with spiced rice and avocado crema. We had to skip the pico de gallo as our box was missing the portion of cherry tomatoes, but I have to give props to Goodfood for following up promptly and offering me a $10 credit to make up for the error. Despite the absent tomatoes, the bowl turned out pretty well and I enjoyed it.

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

SUNDAY

Spiced pork chops with lacinato kale, apple & cheddar salad, and roasted potatoes.

Although we had a big chunk of pork chop on the plate, the star of this meal was actually the kale, apple, and cheddar salad. Mr. Chuckles hates kale but I convinced him to try a bit of this one since it was a slightly different type – lacinato kale, to be precise. Nicknamed ‘dinosaur kale’ for its dark colour and dimply texture, lacinato kale is a variety that has a long tradition in Italian cuisine, particularly in Tuscany. It is actually a traditional ingredient found in milestrone and ribollita, who knew?

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