Gousto - Win Dinner in a box!

Ingredients for Spiced Pumpkin and Halloumi on Bulgar Wheat with Pomegranate Seeds

Although I love to plan ahead and decide what I'm going to cook, sometimes it's difficult to find the time to get organised and  because I love my food so much, I'd prefer not to have a freezer meal very often   That's why I was so pleased when Gousto Simply Cook contacted me to try out a couple of their Gourmet recipe boxes.

What is a Gousto Gourmet Box?
Gousto provides you with all the ingredients in the right proportions to cook delicious meals at home. The produce is organic, fresh and seasonal. Gousto’s recipes are developed by a team of passionate chefs and tested by their friends and families first (very picky people). You get to choose the recipes online and every week the selection is updated to make sure there’re plenty of new recipes for you. The recipes are delivered right to your doorstep once a week so you decide when to cook. Whenever you’re on holiday or just don’t have time, simply place the subscription on hold – it’s easy.

In practice it is very simple, in a trial subscription you can decide whether to try 3 meals a week or 4 meals a week.  Three meals a week  for two people for the Gourmet box costs £42 (around £5 per person per meal) and for the Veggie Box it costs £39.  Once you  have your trial subscription you can  log in to the Gousto Simply Cook website look at the list of recipes and choose what you would like to make,  and there is a wide range to choose from and they are added to each week.  You then add the recipes to you basket and sit back and wait!


Excellent Delivery Service
What I really liked about the website was the delivery address checker, I live in rural south west Scotland and have had problems with deliveries e.g. Ocado don't deliver to our area.  So I was delighted to be able to put in my postcode and find that my parcel would be delivered on a Wednesday.  Gousto are currently delivering to all postcodes in the UK apart from a few very remote areas, they deliver in London on a Tuesday between 1pm and 6pm and to other UK areas on a Wednesday, 9am - 5pm.  The ingredients duly arrived on the appointed day packed expertly in a box with a fleecy lining and icepacks, there were no issues about signing for it and Gousto are happy to take instructions as to where to leave the parcel if you are out.

I have the opportunity to try two of the recipes, so I chose:

Spiced Pumpkin and Halloumi on Bulgar Wheat with Pomegranate Seeds


 I have always wanted to try halloumi cheese, but for some reason I never got round to buying it. What a fantastic recipe,  the pumpkin chunks are roasted in the oven with the onions, the halloumi cheese is fryed and served on top of a bulgar wheat salad which includes the roasted vegetables, pomegranate and mint.  It was really delicious and probably not something I would have made otherwise.

Oven Baked Pork Chops with Pears, Stilton and Pecan Nuts


 The oven baked pork chops with pears, stilton and pecan nuts use a similar technique to the pumpkin recipe as the pears and onions are oven roasted with the spices.  I love blue cheese and the combination of the sweet fruit, slightly earthy taste of the pecan nuts and the sharp, saltiness of the cheese was a treat to eat.

Conclusion
The recipes are excellent and are definitely something that I would want to make and eat.  There are interesting and exciting vegetarian options.  The delivery service is one of the best I have experienced. There is also very little waste as you only get enough of the ingredients to make the meal.  I would consider using the service if I was going on a self catering holiday and wanted to make nice food without the hassle of shopping, but I don't think it is something I would use on a weekly basis.

If, on the other hand, you find it difficult to decide what to make but love good food and are happy to cook, this is a great way to try out some new recipes and ingredients.


GIVEAWAY
You can win a Gousto Gourmet Box that feeds two people by following the instructions on the Rafflecopter widget. This Giveaway is only available for entrants with a UK delivery address.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was supplied with a Gousto Gourmet Box with two meals for two people.  I was not obliged to write a positive review and all opinions are my own. 

Labels: Dinner in a box, Gousto, halloumi. bulgar wheat, Pears, pecan nuts, pomegranate, Pork chops, pumpkin, Stilton

posted by Janice @ 15:00 89 Comments

Roasted Courgette, Tomato, Feta and Basil Tart

There was a bit of joking on Twitter the other night about how we should make one recipe that covered all the blog challenges, then we could have the rest of the month off!  I haven't managed to cover quite all the blog challenges with this post but it ticked off quite a few.

My courgette/zucchini plant has sucked up all the rain and produced some huge fruits, so although I had planned to make the Pea, bean and bacon tart from the July issue of BBC Good Food, I decided to adapt it to use the courgettes, hmmm maybe I could use some tomatoes too, oh and that half block of Feta cheese, so no need for the bacon and I'll make my own pasty instead of using frozen shortcrust like in the recipe...not much of the recipe left to be honest!

Roasted Courgette Tomato, Feta and Basil Tart

1 quantity of butter shortcrust pastry blind baked in a flan case (click through to the link for full recipe)

For the roasted vegetables
2 large or three medium courgettes/zucchini
8 small tomatoes, halved
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oven to 200C, slice or dice the courgettes into even sized chunks, halve the tomatoes.  Place the vegetables in a roasting dish and coat with the oil.  Sprinkle with salt and roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until starting to blacken round the edges. Remove from oven and drain the juices into a bowl.

For the filling
100g Feta cheese, cubed
300ml double cream
4 large eggs
juices from the roasted vegetables
6-8 basil leaves
freshly ground pepper




Place the roasted vegetables into the baked tart case, top with the cubed feta and torn basil leaves.  Season with freshly ground pepper.
Beat the cream and eggs together and stir in the saved juices from the roasted vegetables. Pour over the vegetables and cheese and bake at 160C for 35 minutes until set and golden.

Roasting the veg means that the pastry doesn't go soggy and it makes a nice firm filling, very tasty indeed.

I'm entering this tart for One Ingredient, the July ingredient is 'The Tomato' and it is being hosted this month by Jacqueline at How to Cook Good Food who shares this challenge with Working London Mummy


 And..Veggie/Fruit a Month which is featuring the Zucchini for July and is being hosted this month by Cook's Joy



It is also Simple and in Season another challenge run by Jacqueline at How to Cook Good Food in patnership with Ren at Fabulicious Food



Okay, so far three challenges busted with one dish, now to the salad I served with the tart

Giant Couscous, Butternut and Walnut Salad

I've been reading about Giant Couscous, so when I saw a bag at the farm shop last week, I popped it in my basket.  Also in GoodFood July issue was this recipe which was perfect to try out the giant couscous.  This time I stuck to the recipe!


I hope the recipe will go onto the website soon and I can link back, but it is basically roasted dice of butternut squash which have been sprinkled with chilli powder (I roasted them in a separate dish but at the same time as the courgettes and tomatoes).  You cook the couscous for five minutes, then mix through the roasted squash and the oil it has been roasted in and add walnut pieces, the seeds and juice of half a pomegranate and juice of half a lemon with a handful of chopped mint.

What a lovely salad it was, the squash pieces were quite hot as I probably used more chilli than I should and used chilli flakes rather than powder!  However, as the couscous is bland if you ate it altogether, the heat was about right.  I loved the fresh juiciness of the pomegranate seeds, the green bite of the mint and earthy crunch of the walnuts.   I would definitely make this again.

And this recipe is for Bookmarked Recipes one of the challenges run by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes from an idea by Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments founder of the challenge.

Labels: basil, Bookmarked Recipes, butternut squash, courgettes, feta cheese, flan, Giant couscous, One Ingredient, pomegranate, quiche, roasted vegetables, salad, Simple and in Season, tart, tomatoes, vegetarian

posted by Janice @ 20:19 11 Comments

Lamb Tagine

I bought a pomegranate last week and then wondered what to do with it!   So I thought I'd make a Lamb Tagine, I used the recipe from my Good Housekeeping book but bumped up the veg content to make it go further and make it healthier.  I topped it off with chopped coriander and the pomegranate seeds which I loved by were not so popular with my husband!

coriander leaves to garnish

5. Discard the cinnamon  and bayleaf. Add the dates and honey and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes.  Garnish with coriander and serve with couscous.

Labels: carrots, celeriac, couscous, lanb, Parsnips, pomegranate, tagine

posted by Janice @ 21:34 9 Comments