Plated Review & Free Plates Coupon! #platedpics – March 18

Better-than-Mom’s Shepherd’s Pie and a Chef’s Table selection make this week’s Plated a hit!  Throw in a chocolate chip cookie pie, and what is not to love? Plated delivers ready-to-prepare meals to your doorstep.  It’s perfect if you want freshly-prepared meals using top-quality ingredients.  With just a little chopping and stirring, you have a restaurant-quality meal that you can brag about. You can always preview menus ahead of time, so you can pass on selections that don’t move you. This is usually not an issue — some weeks we order a half dozen meals because the selections are so appealing.  The portions are generous, and we usually have enough that we can let the kids experience some great new flavors too!

It is worth noting that the recipe card has received a makeover.  It still has a list of ingredients, items you may need to prepare the dish, and cooking tips.  The tips have moved to the back of the card to make room for a larger picture of the dish.  The big change is a clean-up of the font — they lightened the general font and highlighted ingredients within the instructions to make it easier to follow at a glance.

When you sign up for Plated with this link or use code b0c635, you’ll get 2 free plates with your first order. Sometimes we order and sometimes Hello Fresh. It just depends on what meals we’re interested in. [Hello Fresh: Take $40 off your first box with coupon code 7UT7K8]

Tomato-Saffron Bouillabaisse with Crab Claws, Pollock, and Calamari (Chef’s Table):  This Chef’s Table portion of fish had four big crab claws, a whole calamari for each person, two filets of pollock, and several calamari rings.  The spicy leek broth was interesting on its own (and the bread was great, too).  The star, though, is obviously the seafood.  It was very fresh and cooked up tender as well.  The crab shells were pre-cut in the middle of each section so you could crack them fairly easily with your hands or a table utensil.

Orecchiette with Spicy Sausage, Brown Butter, and Sage:  The sausage was pretty mild, but the dish otherwise delivered.  the al dente pasta was perfection and paired sublimely with the crisp sausage and buttery sauce. 

Sicilian-Style Cod with Parsley Garlic Potatoes:  This dish derived a lot of flavor into a simple preparation.  The fish was firm and fresh, and the capers and olives added a nice bit of briny goodness.  The potatoes were exquisitely browned and a great carb complement to the otherwise very light mediterranean dish.

Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie Pies:  These ultra-thick cookie disks had a nice buttery warm interior.  The recipe card said to eat while warm, which I did.  Wish I had waited a bit, because I do like cookies much better after they’ve cooled — they were very good, but the bit I came back to a little later was even better.

Shepherd’ s Pie with Ground Beef and Vegetables:  The parsnips and carrots provided a great root-veg flavor to the beef filling.  The tomato paste, chicken base, and worchestershire sauce became something truly special when simmered with the beef and vegetables.  The resulting sauce was delicious.  The potatoes had a great creaminess to them and would have been great even by themselves.  We loved this version of shepherd’s pie and will be making it again ourselves.

So that’s what we made with our box this week!  You can use code b0c635 to sign up for Plated and get 2 free plates with your first order!

Each meal includes easy-to-follow directions, and almost everything you need is included:  from the often organic meats to the fresh herbs.  You need only contribute the most basic of culinary skills, and Plated will walk you through the rest.  Have on hand basic kitchen utensils and you can transform the contents of your Plated box into a photo-worthy culinary masterpiece in under forty-five minutes (usually less).  I love the way each meal incorporates only a couple key herbs or spices; the flavors shine through, and the recipes remain easy to follow.

If you haven’t joined up, visit Plated to find or more or to subscribe. You can see all the meal subscription services & dinner kits in the directory plus all our Plated Reviews!