UPDATE: Relished has recently been rebranded as Home Chef.
I’ll be the first to admit it: I love to cook, yet cooking fresh meals every night is not always possible. I wish I had more time to go to the local fresh markets and to find culinary joy and inspiration in the fruit and veggie aisles, or lean sources of protein over in the meat aisles. Sadly, more often than not, my job and my school get in the way. So when Relished contacted me and wanted to send me some fresh ingredients to prepare a few of their dishes, I jumped at the chance.
Relished is a Chicago weekly meal delivery service with a mission: to make cooking fresh food at home as easy as possible. Deliveries are currently available to 50% of the U.S. – most anywhere East of the Colorado River. According to info posted on the Relished website, they deliver “a portioned ingredient kit filled with all of the fresh, locally-sourced food and instructions you need to cook three delicious meals every week.” I tried out this meal delivery service last week, and here is my review.
This is how the contents looked like when I first opened the box I got from Relished – all clearly labeled and carefully measured for me in advance:
I started off with the wedge salad with bacon, walnuts, and homemade gorgonzola dressing. All ingredients looked very fresh, as you can see in the picture below. I noticed the shallot and garlic cloves had been peeled, and thought this was a great time-saver.
The iceberg lettuce had a perfect crunch, and its refreshing taste worked well with the smoky flavor of the bacon. The homemade gorgonzola dressing was creamy and velvety and did not overpower the other ingredients. I will definitely make this dressing again in the future. Last but not least, the cherry tomatoes added another layer of healthful freshness to the dish.
I followed the recipe exactly, and the end result was very yummy and appetizing:
I experimented with the plating a little bit. This is “take 2” 🙂
The next dish I made was the sambal glazed salmon with roasted baby bok choy and wasabi whipped potatoes.
I’d never used baby bok choy before, and my inexperience worried me a bit. Thankfully, the instructions were easy to follow, and the roasting of the baby bok choy was a success:
I cooked the salmon on each side for 3-4 minutes, as per the instructions, and it turned out moist and succulent:
This was the first time I ever used sambal, an Asian condiment made from chili peppers, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, sugar, lime juice, and rice vinegar. I am not a fan of spicy ingredients, but this condiment made perfect sense and went really well with the fish. My least favorite element was the wasabi powder that I added to the mashed potatoes. I found the flavor of the wasabi unusual and somewhat of an “acquired taste.” Overall however, this dish was a great success in our household. I loved the deep red color of the sambal glaze, which made the salmon look exquisite:
The last dish I made was the turkey burger with homemade pickled onions and sweet potato fries. I was really looking forward to trying a burger made up of ground turkey breast.
Pickling the onions was easy, fast, and a lot of fun. I am sure I will use this pickling method again in the future, and I will probably experiment with pickling other vegetables.
The pickled onions added a spicy flavor dimension to the burger – plus, their color was gorgeous.
The burger was tender and flavorsome and it benefited from the assertiveness of the smoked cheddar cheese and the earthiness of the sweet potato fries. Meanwhile, the sliced tomato and the crisp arugula provided a freshness which emphasized the overall lightness of the burger. I served the burger with extra pickled onions on the side – we just couldn’t get enough of them!
I thought these dishes were high quality, and I appreciated the easy-to-follow instructions and the drink pairing suggestions. The recipe cards also include nutrition facts and timing estimates, both of which come in handy. I liked the fact that the ingredients had been measured in advance, so I did not have to measure anything. I saved time and cooked healthy and nutritious dishes, which my family enjoyed.
Use promo code ‘relished50’ when ordering from https://www.relishedfoods.com/ to receive 50% off your first order. Promo code is valid through the month of March 2014.
*Disclaimer: These meals were sent to me free of charge. I was not paid for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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