Hautechef Comes Home With Exotic Meals

I first heard about ‘Hautechef’ when I went for food blogger’s potluck at APB studio.

This idea appealed to me of buying a box of ingredients that has just the right variety used in cooking and the exact quantity of the ingredients. The ingredients were fresh and neatly packed 

For example in the box for ‘Pan Seared Fish With Ratatouille and Mustard Beurre Blanc’

They sent

2tbsp Olive oil

2cloves garlic

1 onion

1tbsp tomato paste

1 red bell pepper

1 zucchini

1 eggplant

1tsp sugar

1 bunch parsley

2tbsp butter

1tbsp mustard

2 fish fillets

4tbsp semolina

The box comes with the recipe card with step-by-step method used for cooking a dish.

There are many times, when we look into the recipe book and decide to follow a recipe. The laziness seeps in when we have to go to the supermarket to buy the ingredients, and when we really do, we either buy more ingredients than necessary or forget one or two ingredients. So this idea of having all the ingredients in one box does inspire me to cook.

During the following week, I ordered two boxes on two separate days. In the mid week, I ordered ‘Arabic Fattoush Salad’ and made a visit to my aunt. I found this a perfect gift to take for my aunt. Together we chopped the vegetables and prepared the salad. It was fun really.

The salad was good, but the quantity of feta cheese and pomegranate was comparatively less as compared to other ingredients such as mint leaves, parsley and pita bread.

On weekend, I ordered French delight: Pan Seared Fish and made a visit to my BIL. I cooked for dinner following the instruction given in the recipe card.

“If we were to eat this in a fancy restaurant, we would be paying Rs2000 for this dish” said my BIL completely pleased with the most exotic dinner.

So, this was a success!!

I would recommend this product to all my friends who enjoy cooking exotic dishes. But remember, you still have to do the cutting, cooking and cleaning up the mess.

Chili and Chocolate Potluck

Chilli and chocolate, now that is an odd combination, therefore when my food blogger friend, Rushina, suggested this theme for potluck lunch, my mind did some somersault. I love chilies but am not too fond of chocolates, but thinking out of box is being creative, so I was game for it.

I thought of many dishes, and many combinations, changed many menus, finally decided to make a snack using Oreo chocolate, spicy Sambal of kidney n liver, topped with grated cheese and pickled red chilies.

It was too spicy, even though it had sweet chocolate biscuit as the base. Also it is important to develop the taste for kidney and liver. Therefore I am not sure whether others liked it, but I loved it.

It was a fun afternoon, being it Wednesday afternoon, a working day, not many of the food bloggers could attend, but all those who attended, enjoyed it a lot.

Two days prior to the event, I had pickled the chilies with lime, salt, sugar and soya sauce. On the day, this made a colorful ornament on the melted cheese.

There were many other interesting things too…Some of the other creations that I liked were

Stuffed Chillies dipped in white chocolate and the tequila induced filling inside  the chili gave quite a kick…

I am not too fond of Mexican, but this Veggie Mexican chilli was quite a favorite with the rest of the group.

Churro was crispy and spicy. When I dipped churro in hot chocolate, I was transported back to Spain, pity that Spanish would not be able to eat because it was spicy….

The salad was utterly delicious with candied chilies and it had sweetish strawberry flavor.

This one was nice roasted chicken with chocolate folded over it.

And finally came the dessert, we were anxiously waiting for…

Melt in mouth chocolate cream pots with mint-basil syrup

It was an interesting meet, chit chat over cups of hot chocolate and meeting new people is always a pleasure.