Recipe in a Box - Squidbeak

There are some perks to this job as you might imagine, eating for a living. One of them was the big box of organic ingredients – everything you need to make three meals for two people – that arrived on the doorstep from Riverford Organic Farms. And while it was lovely to be in receipt of such a massive box of stuff, I do admit to be slightly sceptical of recipe kits. I cook a lot, so my fridge and store cupboard always has garlic, soy sauce, paprika etc. and here I was with little plastic sachets of oregano, caraway seeds, tomato puree, even a few teaspoons of brown sugar – a lot of packaging – but I was willing to give it a go.

First up was baked chicken leg with smashed new potato and sorrel sauce. A nicely designed recipe card, with simple, clear instructions and a good photograph. The recipe involved roasting the chicken legs, boiling then roasting the potatoes with rosemary and adding a white wine, cream and sorrel at the end. Sorrel is so hard to get hold of unless you grow it yourself, so it was welcome in the sauce and in all, an excellent dinner.

The second recipe was sausage and macaroni bake. Good quality pork sausages were skinned and cooked with onions, spinach and double cream then added to cooked macaroni and topped with cheese to be finished in the oven. The third dish was a vegetable mix, spiced with caraway and paprika and served with pappardelle topped with sour cream.

All the recipes were easy to follow and good to eat, though top heavy on the cream. Portions were generous and at a pinch, could have served four. Though I was initially doubtful I realized when I described them to my student daughter, who leapt at the idea of having a Riverford recipe box delivered to her flat, (from her mum and dad of course) that there was a place for these good quality recipe boxes. Certainly tastier and more nutritious than a takeaway. I can also see them being a boon on holiday. Have a box delivered to your self-catering holiday home and you are set up for the first few days at least.

There are three types of boxes: original, vegetarian and quick, priced around £40, which works out at about £6.50 per meal, per person.