Little Weighton Kitchen is an offshoot of village pub The Black Horse, which can rather predictably be found in Little Weighton and sounds similar notes of quality, locality and sustainability to sibling Little Weighton Kitchen. Thanks to a slick website, it doesn’t take long to get up and running with the service, picking from a selection of recipes that regularly rotate into something new to try. My fancy was tickled by Prawn Thai curry, Tandoori Salmon and Pork Piccata and after a few decisive clicks and a few days of anticipation, I was thanking a now-familiar delivery driver for the latest object of his labours.

Branding and packaging was attractive, easily navigated and well segregated to get everything into the fridge/cupboard in double quick time, so later that day I got straight into the Thai prawn & aubergine curry which packed in tomato and spinach for maximum sense of health. Cooking this one involved a not-unreasonable amount of chopping and grating before assembling the results of that effort over heat to cook through, and it turned out to be the first meal eaten outside in 2021, fully deserving of the accompanying glass of wine. I bulked it out with some noodles to make sure it satisfied our appetite. Next up was a Tandoori salmon dish served over roasted sweet potato and with the elements of Kachumber salad (tomato, cucumber and red onion) roasted to form a bedding. This was another easily constructed and tasty dish, but the final dish of the trio I’d chosen was the star of the delivery.

Preparing Pork Piccata had me flour and sear pork medallions to serve over a bed of grated celeriac and finely sliced cabbage which had been softened over shallot and garlic with a hit of mustard dressing, which was also used to accent the pork. Tenderstem broccoli added freshness to the plate while more bold flavour came from a caper & parsley butter that the pork’s residual heat had turned into a dressing. The quality of the pork here shone through without being overwhelmed by the slaps of caper and smacks of lemon, all backdropped by the earthy celeriac into a very serious plate of food.

Little Weighton Kitchen is a welcome Yorkshire voice in the burgeoning recipe box world. It may not be conspicuously cheap but the quality of the ingredients and the supply chain it supports speak for themselves. The dishes are intelligently constructed and instructions written with a welcome dose of common sense in mind, offering a good mix of accessibility and willingness to put you to work where there’s reward to be had. This taste of it has also piqued my interest in The Black Horse so, in due course, I’ll have to make my way there for a little more Little Weighton.

(PR product, no charge made)

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Berenjak is, in more normal times, a restaurant in Soho characterised by hearty rustic dishes that should hopefully translate well to the home environment. I plumped for the basic Berenjak Bazaar kebab kit that offered a brace of kebabs each for two people along with lavash bread, a dip and components of a simple dressed salad. Ordering was very simple and £30 was a very fair price for a generous meal for two, especially given that the kit included the kebab skewers necessary for cooking the meats.

I decided that firing up the barbecue in February would be a step too far given the amount of snow on the ground so pushed my grill to its highest setting after I’d prepared the kebabs, a simple process aided by a instructional video and a rubber glove to avoid staining one’s hands. The process of cooking them took a few logically ordered stages with tomatoes first to be scorched under the hot grill before the kebabs were similarly treated and sides made up concurrently. Then finally placing the breads at the top of the pile to warm through. Nothing we had to do involved any particular skill or required the use of judgement borne of experience, just the ticket for this sort of meal.

To remove the meat from the skewers I followed the instruction to effect a heat shield using a piece of bread and the resulting spread was both inviting and eye catching as it came to the table for dishing up. The portion size was well judged and the whole thing felt like the feast I expected it to. The kebabs were deeply, richly flavoured and I’d managed to get a decent bit of char on the outside without drying them out, and with the charred tomatoes and the light flatbreads these wrapped together into a very enjoyable experience. The accompanying Mast-o-musir dip was quickly mopped up with more flatbread to extract all the enjoyment possible from this shallot and yoghurt based dip, and the red onion salad was a welcome crunch of sharp acidity.

These aren’t dishes that I would generally think to cook at home, which are easy to produce to a high standard and good value with the convenience of delivery thrown in. It’s hard to think what more you’d expect from a recipe box such as this and at only £30 it’s good value too. One side effect of eating at home so much is increasingly pent-up demand to eat out, that combined with a strong desire to visit London again means I’ll be looking to pop along for a meal at Berenjak and compare my efforts to the real thing.

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Hello Fresh is one of the main players amongst those who offer this service nationwide, Gousto being the other big name. Incidentally, my favourite amongst those that I’ve tried (who are still operating) was from Riverford whose veggie dishes were really well rounded and have stuck in this household’s collective memory.

Signing up to Hello Fresh was as easy as one would expect, barriers to entry being anathema to a service such as this, and it only took a few minutes to choose my three meals and arrange delivery. I went for sweet chilli beef, spiced pork ragu and harissa lamb pie all of which were delivered exactly on schedule within an hour long time slot confirmed on the morning of that day. The (contactless obviously) delivery was carried out exactly as promised and I quickly got stuck into the box of neatly presented ingredients.

Each of the meals came with the ambient elements packaged separately in paper bags, with a separate chilled bag accounting for the chilled ingredients. The accompanying recipe cards were clearly labelled and the instructions logically presented requiring minimum of interpretation. There’re few things more frustrating than cooking instructions that throw a surprise at you two thirds of the way through. None of those indiscretions were here though thankfully with a logically constructed list of kit and ingredients followed by well paced steps toward a completed dish.

All the produce came with surprisingly long use-by dates so after a pause of a couple of days we put our first meal through its paces, choosing sweet chilli beef. I tried to follow the instructions as closely as possible to remove any influence of my competence (or otherwise) and while the timing went a little over that advertised, as it always seems to with this sort of deal, everything went to plan and the dish gave us plenty of flavour and generous portions to enjoy.

Second up came the pork pappardelle that was similarly easy to construct and pleasurable to dispose of and generous of quantity, even flowing into a light lunch the next day, and finally we enjoyed a harissa lamb pie. This final dish included a combination of crushed and whole chickpeas that bulked it out more than I anticipated and will be a technique I replicate. The leftover pastry turned into some wild garlic and cheese swirls the following day too, bonus!

All three dishes that made up my first order delivered on flavour and ease of preparation, removing the need to buy large quantities of a particular ingredient for one meal and giving me a couple of new ideas while maximising convenience without sacrificing freshness or nutrition. I’ve no idea if this habit will continue as our freedoms continue to return, but I’ve already placed a second order…

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Having arranged delivery, I was a little surprised to find the Riverford recipe box arriving at five o’ clock in the morning as I was tending to Baby Fork, though thankfully the delivery driver was sensible enough to not bang at the door. A few hours later, I retrieved the box from its hiding place and found it still in perfect condition ready to get stuck into cooking later that evening. All the produce in the box was great quality and measured out appropriately. The only misstep was mine as I failed to grasp the subtlety of the part of the box labelled “Lift Here” and took rather longer than I should have to retrieve some of the ingredients.

The first recipe I tried was “Herby Whipped Wootton & Balsamic Veg” that Riverford characterised​ as “Vegetarian Simple”. The “Wootton” in question was Wootton White, a British made Feta-style cheese that the recipe directed to whip up with creme fraiche until light and fluffy. This was to be served over roasted veg and brown rice. The recipe did a good job of issuing instructions in a sensible order to maximise time efficiency, the pre-measured ingredients helping to speed things along too. There was a reasonable amount of chopping involved and as I wanted to do the dish justice, I took my time. The investment was worth it though as the finished dish was excellent. The timings on the recipe card were all spot on and the combination of summery veg roasted with basil, balsamic vinegar under rice and the whipped cheese was delicious.

The second dish I was sent to prepare was “Lebanese Spinach & Chickpeas”. This one was alleged to be a little tougher as “Vegetarian Foodie”, but I can’t say I noticed any element of the prep being noticeably more challenging. The Maftoul that I started by simmering was reminiscent of large coucous and ended up being perfect to soak up the delicately spiced chickpeas which were in turn fantastic with the simmered tomato, preserved lemon, coriander, a spice mix and spinach. This was a real hit and had great depth of flavour which hit up spice against the tahini yoghurt nicely.

I enjoyed cooking both these dishes and the results were certainly striking as I’d been encouraged by the process to make a little more effort than a usual mid week dinner. The dishes come in around £12 for each meal for two and the produce was exemplary. I’ll certainly be hanging onto the recipe cards too. This was undoubtedly a convenient way to try new dishes that I wouldn’t normally think to cook at home.

​Disclaimer: No charge was made for this delivery. Opinions are impartial.

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Born and Bred deliver recipes designed by the inestimable Yorkshire food champion Steph Moon along with great quality locally sourced produce to show them off to best effect. The care and effort that goes into sourcing the highest quality produce is immediately obvious when you open the box, which contains offerings from reputed suppliers such as Herbs Unlimited, True Foods, Bracken Hill, Dumouchel Patisserie and Listers Farm shop.

For my box, I chose Yorkshire “Savoury Ducks” and “Crispy Yorkshire Haloum!” with mushroom and leek cakes and decided to have a go at the “Ducks” first. This recipe reads really well as a hearty winter dish which pairs lamb mince and liver into good sized meatballs fleshed out with onion, egg, mustard, breadcrumbs and Hendersons Relish. Preparation was easy enough with all the ingredients pre-weighed or measured for you. It was at this point it really dawned on me that this wasn’t going to be a substitute for cooking. While the pre-measured ingredients were a definite neat shortcut, there was still chopping, dicing, grating, zesting and mixing involved though with maximum amount of end user judgement removed by the recipe card. The finished product was everything it promised: a rich and hearty meal for two that was generously portioned enough to deliver some leftovers the following day. The only issue on the plate came from my failure to read the recipe card closely enough and adding too much orange to the sauce, definitely user error.

The fried Halloum! (from Yorkshire Dama Cheese) was a slightly simpler recipe. Fried cheese is a fairly obvious pleasure and the mushroom and leek cakes were reminiscent of Steph Moon recipes that I’ve cooked before. The finished plate was predictably delicious and rather lighter in character than the “ducks”. I ended up making this for a light dinner, finishing the left overs the following day, which were no less enjoyable for the delay.

These boxes are available monthly either on subscription or for a one off payment. Three meals for two people comes to £39, breaking down to £6.50 per portion. I think that’s a very reasonable amount, especially given the obvious care that’s gone into sourcing produce and delivering it in such a way as the consumer can take best advantage of that quality. The only note of caution I’d sound is to make sure you don’t see this as a lazy substitute for cooking. Yes, there are a number of shortcuts handed to you, but this is still cooking and requires some effort. If you enjoy chopping onions as much as me though, that really isn’t a problem. The ingredients I received were enjoyable to cook and turned into lovely meals. I’d happily recommend trying out Born & Bred.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for the delivery I received. Opinions are impartial.

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