Friday 7 July 2017

My Little Chef - Review - HelloFresh - Herb Coated Haddock


HelloFresh produce a selection of simple and yet delicious recipes from all over the world. Perfect for families, like ours, who like to eat healthily and to meal plan at the same time.

Their mission to help everyone have access to the best ingredients and then the knowledge to cook them is something that I can wholeheartedly get behind.

Along with this, their Flavour Generator, where customers can choose the style of the meal they would like, offers a taste selection and then the meals and recipes that are available from the choices made.

As all of my regular readers will know William is always showing me up with his extraordinary ability to cook amazing meals and continue to be 'My Little Chef'. As his dad I couldn't be prouder and will always support his interest and talent in this area. However, there is often an untold aspect to his cooking tale.

I live on a restricted budget and every week I sit down and I meal plan either food I have in the cupboards and fridge or I carefully order my shopping to the meal plan ahead. It is something that is necessary for us to do and works well for us most weeks; until William has been digging around in his recipe books and says "Daddy, I would really like to make".

I have now managed to budget a set amount aside each week so he can continue his passion but it isn't always easy to do!

With HelloFresh having a database of recipes and then a way to combine tastes, preference and variety via a flavour generator works perfectly for me as a parent and for William as a little chef.


To use the Flavour Generator couldn't be easier! So much so that William controlled the choices available.




He chose "British food" and "herby" and then clicked "Generate" which supplied a selection of recipes. He then decided to follow the recipe for Herb Crusted Haddock with Creamy Leeks and Potatoes.

What happens next?

Well with the fabulous fresh food available William took control and followed their online recipe.


Ingredients



4 Fillets of Haddock
5 Red Potatoes (Recipe suggests 1 bag)
2 Leeks
2 Courgettes
1 Pot Crème Fraiche
80g Grated Cheese
40g Breadcrumbs
Thyme
1 Lemon
Salt
Black Pepper
Resources
Cutting Board
Saucepan
  Foil
2 x Oven Tray
 Utensils
Scissors
Method


William started by slicing the red potatoes into 2cm chunks or as he liked to call them "apple slices". He then placed them in a oven tray lined with cooking foil.


William, taking full advantage of our home grown herbs, used scissors to cut some sprigs of thyme.


He then carefully cut the sprigs finely over the potatoes and sprinkled with oil.


William then sliced the courgettes into 2cm pieces.


He then cut them into small pieces so they were all around the same size.


After removing the roots and the darker leaves William then cut the leeks into regular pieces around 2cm thick.


He then added the courgettes and leeks into a saucepan and added some butter to cook.


He then stirred continually until the courgettes and leeks were golden. William then turned the heat down to 1 to let them simmer.

It was now time to place the potatoes into the oven to roast for 25-30 minutes.




Whilst the potatoes were cooking it was time to make the crust for the haddock. William combined the bread crumbs, cheese and some more cut thyme to a bowl and mixed the ingredients together.



Place the haddock fillet onto a tray lined with foil he applied a small spoon of crème fraiche to the "flesh" side with the skin side on the bottom. He the layered the crust ingredients on top of the fish and crème pushing hard for it to set and stick.

The coated fish then needed to go into the oven for 10 - 15 minutes.


Whilst both the fish and the potatoes were in the oven William finished the courgettes and leeks by adding the remaining crème fraiche to the dish.


He stirred continually until it was fully coated and the continued to heat up.


With the coat of the fish golden it was time to take them out of the oven to cool before plating.


The same was repeated for the browning roasted wedges.




Continuing to follow the recipe William placed the crème fraiche courgettes and leeks onto the plate first and then placed the herb crust fish on top. He then placed the potatoes onto the side and added a slice of lemon to spray over the fish when ready to eat.



So, what do we think?

The recipe itself was easy to follow. Each stage has pictures so even a limited reader could follow step by step. It took William 20 minutes in prep and then the additional 25 minutes for cooking time but I can see how the 35 minute guidelines on the site would apply for any quick adult.

The inclusion of the vegetables were brilliant and being part of a family that always tried to add as much green to a plate it was very welcomed as an addition. The ingredients balanced perfectly and was a lovely meal set out and planned.

The flavour generator is wonderful and extremely easy to use. Even sticking to similar themes would provided enough regular meals for a weekly plan for any family! This aspect and then having the recipe on hand makes meal planning as simple as clicking a button.

What do you think? Would you try the recipe? Have you come from across HelloFresh and their flavour generator or their meal ?




(I was given the ingredients to review. My opinions, brilliant son, love of food and trying recipes are my own and I am under no obligations to give a positive review! Please see my full disclosure at the bottom of my blog)

8 comments:

Relentlesslypurple said...

Yet another fab recipe Will! I've not come across Hellofresh & their generator before.

Natalie Streets said...

Will is such an amazing cook, you're a very lucky man, Kitney!
Top tip: par boiling wedges often gets them crispier cos you can rough them up.
Flavour generator thingy ma bobby sounds like a good idea, we meal plan and try to stick to a budget too. Never considered those boxes because they seem like a faff and so expensive. Might have to check it out.

Hannah said...

I've never looked at the boxes before because I always thought they'd be way over my budget but I'm keen to check them out to see if I could make them work.
Will has done an amazing job! I love the look of this recipe and I'm so pleased to see it in his little chef series I look forward to these every week now especially as they're often veggie!!

Unknown said...

I honestly think that William should try going down the culinary route ad he grows older. From little chef to big chef!!!
I haven't tried out Hello fresh before but I do like the idea of the flavour generator!

Alan said...

Never heard of this before. Looks like a fantastic way to prepare a meal.
I look forward to some more amazing dishes from William using it.

Unknown said...

I really love your my little chef series with William! The things he creates always look impressive! It has encourage me to let amellia be a little more active in my kitchen and help! Maybe one day she will be my little chef and I won't have to cook every night!

Naomi said...

Squidgy is turning into my little chef too, can't wait for her to be old enough to do it properly and not just make a mess. I love seeing what William makes in this series, always so jealous of the yummy stuff you get to eat!

Tracey Abrahams said...

This looks like another recipe that is totally up my street. I love fish and any sort of veg in creamy sauce. I will have to give the flavour generator thing a go.