What's on My Plate: Plated Jerk Red Fish & Pork Tonkatsu

It has been about 3 months since my last Plated delivery. I missed the order for the squid ink and crab claw menu, laaaaame.  I honestly forgot I had a meal scheduled, then after several email reminders I chose a menu that looked fun and tasty.

Meal 1: Jerk Redfish with Chayote Squash, Tomatillo, and Scallion Sauté

The updates to the menus include novice vs pro prep time. With those additional parameters I decided to treat my kitchen like a cooking reality show. After unpacking all of the items and laying out all my prep tools I set the timer for 50 minutes and went at it.

My prep time is still a little long. My chopping skills are getting better each meal, but still take the majority of my time. My new ingredients for this dish were redfish and chayote squash. The Chayote Squash resembles a pear and has a similar texture but took on the flavors of the food it was cooked with. At the 50 minute mark the fish was seasoned and cooking, the veggie sauté was ready to go, and I was pouring lime sauce over the fish.

The next 7 minutes were dedicated to me plating the food. The fish cooked in about 6 minutes. I was able to plate the squash and fish before the 10 minute timer went off. 

Loved this dish. The jerk fish was a nice mix of sweet and spicy. The squash and tomatillos sauté was tart and tender. The 2 parts balanced each other really well. This created a light, flavorful dinner.

Total prep time was 57:35. Next goal is to hit the novice time of 50, then the pro time of 40.

Meal 2:  Pork Tonkatsu with Yuzu Cherry Salsa and Mizuna

The goal for this meal was 40 minutes, yeeeeeah, not in my kitchen. The hardest part of this prep was pitting the cherries. I chose to cut them free and thatt was fairly time consuming. Everything was chopped and prepped at the 40 minute mark.

I added 15 minutes to the clock to finish everything. I was able to prep and cook the pork at 10 minutes. The last 5 minutes was plating the Mizuna and Pork Tonkatsu. With an additional 15 minutes I was able to cook and plate everything. Total prep time: 55 minutes

The 2 new ingredients for this meal we're the Yuzu juice and Mizuna. My favorite part of this dish was the Yuzu Cherry salsa. I looked up Yuzu, it is a citrus fruit from east Asia, it was tart but thicker than a lime or lemon juice. The salsa was a tasty blend of sweet, spicy and tart. Another new ingredient for me was the Mizuna. This tiny green was packed with tons of flavor, tart and very fragrant. I should have decreased the soy sauce in the salad, it was too salty for me. But, when I put the salad and pork together it balanced the flavors. The Yuzu Cherry Salsa added tons of flavor to the pork and balanced out the bitter and salty taste of the Mizuna salad.

Loving cooking with Plated. Have you tried any of the home chef delivery programs? What is your favorite meal you've prepped.

Cooking with plated allows me to explore new flavors and ingredients while preventing food waste. Each menu provides the portions you need to serve a perfectly plated meal. If there are any left over seasonings I save them for slow cooking and broths. Fun, tasty, creative meals in the comfort of my own home. Taking my home cooking to a whole other level.

Health and Happiness,
Larissa

What's on my plate? Cooking with Plated

I learned about Plated through my work with Everymove. One of the rewards I earned was a discount on a Plated membership. Then I saw an ad on Facebook offering 4 meals for $20.

I set up my account but never ordered. Then last week I got an email saying my plates were going to expire. It was now or never.

I decided to choose 2 recipes that looked tasty and used ingredients I had never cooked with before and that I probably would not try on my own. I few days later my package arrived! 

I love the packaging, 

"This is your moment of glory!" What a great greeting for my foodie adventure!

In my box were all the major ingredients: fresh spices, carbs, veggies, and protein. I just had to supply the oil, salt, pepper and cookware. Let the fun begin!

Meal 1 I prepped for date night with the husband: Quail with Quince

I have never cooked quail or quince before. With a little help from The queen of quince I figured out how to core and pit the fruit. 

Then I prepped the potatoes, seasoning, and quail.

The final product was quite fancy.

The final product was delicious. I loved the taste of the Dijon seasoning on the quail. The balsamic have the quince a nice balance of sweet and tart. The plated description was pretty accurate, Quince taste like a blend of an apple and a pear. We had some leftover cucumber tomato salad so we added that to our meal for some added color and vegetables.

Meal 2: Pork Chops with Cider Gravy 

This time, with a little help from Martha, I learned how to chop a fresh fennel bulb and mince shallots.

It took me about an hour to prep this meal, it took a lil while to find videos and mince and chop, but it was soooo worth it. This was soooo good. 

We ate every succulent bite! The sweet and savory of the roasted fennel and apple salad was a perfect compliment to the pork chops. The cider gravy was an amazing glaze for the pork chop. Absolutely delicious! My favorite recipe of the 2 of tried.

Plated made me feel like a gourmet chef! I absolutely loved it.  The meals I picked were full of healthy oils and fat, low carb, high protein, paleo friendly, and were between 630-500 calories. So it is easy to fit them into my healthy lifestyle.

From the packaging to the positive feedback on Twitter and Instagram I loved the experience.  I look forward to my next Plated adventure!

Have you tried plated? What new recipe did you try?

Health and Happiness

Larissa