Mr Flavour Review

It will come as no surprise to regular readers that we love both eating out, and cooking up a bit of a storm at home. Sitting neatly in between the two, Mr Flavour is a brand new Sheffield business, which aims to deliver restaurant style meals to your door - an interesting and original concept which we were certainly curious to try.

We were invited to try out the service before the launch, and were presented with the pressed shoulder of lamb with rosemary crushed potatoes, confit garlic and aubergine puree, sauteed courgettes and grape chutney. Lamb jus and a herb crust were also included for extra special "cheffy" touches. The ingredients arrived in a simple paper bag, with everything pre-prepped ready to be heated. Each food item was labelled (with allergen information and use-by dates clearly displayed) and an easy to follow instruction sheet was also included.

Oven ready 

All that was really required was cooking the lamb (which we chose to pan fry quickly before popping it in the oven, as recommended on the instruction sheet for an extra layer of flavour - this also made the kitchen smell glorious), frying the courgettes until tender, and heating up the other ingredients, "boil in the bag" style. There was nothing that hadn't been thought of, and the whole process took just twenty minutes, so this service would be perfect as an after-work treat at the end of a busy day and is much more special than a takeaway.

Plating the meal up was fun, with tips provided on how to make the dish look as though it'd come from a restaurant kitchen... not a skill we've quite mastered (don't think we have the crockery for it!), but it still looked pretty enticing by the time everything was on the plate.

And so, on to the eating! Each ingredient was carefully thought through, meaning that everything worked perfectly together and tasted fantastic. The balance of flavours was excellent, and the instructions resulted in well-cooked lamb which fell apart as soon as the fork got anywhere near it, exactly how we like it. What was especially pleasing for us is that the components we enjoyed the most were those which we wouldn't think to make ourselves at home - the confit garlic and aubergine puree was full of flavour and the grape chutney added a deliciously tangy burst of freshness. The portion sizes were generous but manageable - just right. The only disadvantage was that we had to do our own washing up (although even this was considerably less than if we'd cooked a meal such as this from scratch!).

We did notice from the first week's menu that there doesn't seem to be a vegetarian main meal openly available at the moment, although this is certainly the sort of thing that can be developed as the business grows. However, it's definitely worth getting in touch with Mr Flavour himself, who is on hand to answer any questions (by email, at mrflavour.sheffield@gmail.com, or on twitter), and is also happy to make a whole host of bespoke orders provided they're pre-ordered, including fresh pasta and pastry dough, to make your own favourite dishes that much easier to prepare. Taking it one step further, you can even order a dinner party menu with key ingredients of your choice - a great idea for less confident cooks, or just so you can sit back and spend more time with your guests.

Overall, cooking this dish was straightforward and fun to make. The end result was definitely a meal we'd have been pleased to have eaten at a restaurant (and very good value), and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend the service to others (delivery is currently available across S7, S8, S10, S11, S17 and S18).

Cheers,

L&J

The ingredients for the meal were all provided free-of-charge for review purposes, opinions all our own

Birthday Roast Lamb (Pt.2)

If you read the first part of this post you will know the immensity of the piece of meat I roasted and I would also guess that you could work out the amount of food we had left over (hint: a lot). And so what better way of eating sections of carcass? Yes, correct. Soup.

Most of the meat was still attached deliciously to the bones of beast, perfect for a good boil and subsequent soup.

First of all I boiled the bones with carrots, onions and garlic chopped into large chunks of veg with some woody herbs, specifically rosemary and thyme. After a few hours simmering, I strained the stock into another pan leaving the meat bones and veg. I had a wonderful 20 minutes picking the meat from the bones, because no matter what I tell my metaphorical children you should sometimes play with your food. After a good pick I kept aside the meat to add right at the end of the soup.

To start the soup we used what the Italians call suffritto and the French mirepoix, but what it lightly fries down to is softened onions, celery and carrots. Alongside this was the addition of a mixed bean soup mix, containing lentils, split peas, and rusks along with other beans. At this point you will not need much - something along the lines of a handful per person, ideally soaked over night then rinsed to get rid of the excess starch. But I spectacularly over-catered on this front, so part way through the cooking some of the pulses were separated off to freeze ready for the next set of leftovers. The strained bowl of stock was then added back to the pan, skimming off any fat that may have collected on the top, before bringing to the boil and being left to simmer.

After 45 minutes or so of filling the house with amazing smells, the lentils were tender and almost ready to eat. I only needed to add the lamb and the saved carrots from making the stock, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 5 minutes to warm everything through, before it was served and finished with Hendersons Relish... lovely. 



As Ever

Slainte 
Jim R

Birthday Roast Spiced Lamb (Pt.1)

This weekend I reached the grand old age of 24. And what better way to celebrate my anniversary of birth than with a piece of lamb that weighs the same amount as I did when I was born. As a man who loves cooking and more importantly eating, it was important for me to spend money on a sodding massive piece of meat.


After struggling to fit the joint in the largest roasting tray we own on a bed of red onions. I made a spice rub with dry spices like cumin, chilli, fennel seeds, mustard seeds and smoked paprika. Fresh chillis and garlic were then mixed together with olive oil, to make a wet rub for the outside of the meat. Following that, I cut a hole into the meat which was stuffed with rosemary, thyme and more garlic.

I roasted the meat over two days, starting the roast to cook it through for about 3 hours on a medium heat. It was then roasted on a low heat for another 6 hours, with stock in the tray keeping it basted and moist.

When the lamb was about an hour from being cooked I added fresh tomatoes and peppers to the meaty mix in the tray ready for the sauce.





After the meat had done its time in roasting purgatory it was left to stand in limbo for half an hour or so, giving plenty of time to finish the sauce.








After blending the contents of the baking tray, including all the meat juices and stock onions toms and peppers, the whole lot was allowed to boil down, later adding balsamic vinegar and ketchup to lighten the proceedings.




The next step was to add the pulled meat to the sauce which we ate with flat breads and a potato raita salad, but would work or equally well with couscous or rice.

The amount of meat involved fed 3 of us initially, then another 6 to snack on mid-drinking session and 2 lunches at work with tomatoes, yoghurt and mint. The bones and residual meat were remaining, which are being used to make soup, which will (looking at the pot of soup in front of me) feed us to eternity.

To be continued...

Slainte

Jim