I Can Cook! Freshocracy Update

Update after I prepared our Freshocracy meals this week:

Grass-Fed Beef Chorizo Tomatoes Over Rice

This would've been so good with the okra! After I made it, we realized we had some frozen okra...whoops. It was still good and super easy for a weeknight meal. For some reason even the rice was amazing? Not sure why, I think this was just regular rice.

I Can Cook! Freshocracy Update

We've been busy little bees over the last few months so have had to skip more than a handful of Freshocracy Meals. Finally, our lives settled down enough after the holidays to once more get in the groove of having fresh and delicious home-cooked meals. For your food-lusting pleasure I present:

Meal 1: Lemon Risotto with Broiled Cod Fillet

I Can Cook? Freshocracy

I recently discovered the company Freshocracy through a GiltCity offer. They take local, farm-fresh ingredients and deliver them straight to your door with everything you need to create 3 dinners for 2- including the recipe cards! This is such a perfect service for someone like me who loves the idea of shopping at farmers markets, but don't have the culinary expertise to know how to create a whole meal using what's in season now. It also has the added advantage of convenience- now even a busy New Yorker like me can make fresh meals at home from scratch.

My order just arrived (yes, despite the looming presence of Hurricane Irene) and I'm excited to get in the kitchen and start cooking (right after I post this of course)!

Meal 1: Chili-Lime Poached Fluke
with an Amagansett Corn-Heirloom Tomato Salad

Meal 2: 100% Grass-Fed Beef Chorizo
with Nutty Okra and Tomatoes Over Rice

Meal 3: Bison Chimichurri
with Roasted Lemony Red and Golden Beets & Fresh Chevre

Unfortunately, no okra since the Long Island farmers were a bit busy prepping for a hurricane, but I'm sure it will be tasty nonetheless. Will update with the finished products!

I Can Cook: Freshocracy Week 3

This week's Freshocracy meals kind of got away from me as I wound up having a busy week. I started out strong with Lebanese Roasted Eggplant, Grass-Fed Beef & Toasted Pine Nuts and a Yogurt Dressed Bibb Lettuce and Black Cherry Tomato Salad. I had tons of it, so served it to my visiting cousin who is half Lebanese and he said "Oh wow, it actually does taste like Lebanese food", so there you have it. Stamp of authenticity and approval.

Lebanese Roasted Egglant

Next on the menu was the Momofuku-Inspired Asian Green and Poached Egg Soup with Hot Bread Kitchen's Fall Apple-Cheddar Focaccia. I made the soup, but without the poached egg since it wound up coming to work with me as lunch instead of dinner. I was completely surprised how tasty the soup was even though there wasn't a lot of seasoning! Since it went straight into Tupperware and didn't have its eggy accompaniment, I decided that it wasn't camera worthy. I decided to save the focaccia for a get together on Thursday- but didn't pay attention to the fact that it clearly said that it needed to be used in 2-3 days. When I got it out to warm it up for my guests my beautiful focaccia was covered in mold.

Again, I foolishly did not put my squid in the freezer as instructed so was missing a key ingredient of the next meal: Sicilian Fresh Tomato and Squid Linguine with a Lemony-Pecorino Arugula Salad. Oh and I served the Lemony-Pecorino Arugula Salad at the afore-mentioned get-together, it was quite a hit. Since I was also making the meal for just me I skipped the provided linguine and served it over carb-free tofu shirataki noodles. Again, such an incredibly simple recipe with few ingredients, but bursting with flavor!

Will have to make sure to check my calendar in the future to make sure I will have the time to give these delicious meals the treatment they deserve- but even with my mess ups, I got some incredible meals out of it.

I Can Cook! Freshocracy Update Week 2

I think I've praised the Freshocracy program enough and as promised in my last post, I have signed up for this service at it's full price. Now I'm just going to let the food speak for itself, because if anything, it tasted even better than it looks here (which is pretty darn good if you ask me!):

Mascarpone-Tomato End of Summer Risotto with a Lemon-Pecorino Arugula Salad

100% Berkshire Pork Agrodolce with Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

"Famous" Homemade Fresh Mozz-Sausage-Basil Pizzette
with Field Tomato Caprese Salad

I Can Cook: Blue Apron Week 1

Last year, I was really excited to discover Freshocracy: a program that delivers exactly what you need to create 3 meals for 2 people using fresh, locally sourced food. It was perfect for a newbie chef like me with little time to go shopping and to spend figuring out weekly meals. Then, they mysteriously disappeared. I was so disappointed. Then, I recently discovered Blue Apron. The same service- but cheaper!! I immediately opened up an account and eagerly awaited my delivery.

Well my friends, I was not disappointed. My groceries arrived and I started cooking away. They were amazing, I couldn't believe I had cooked them. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them take it from here (recipes included!)...

Arugula Pesto Pasta with Chicken and Castelvetrano Olives