Lamb Koftas with mint and parsley Salad; Lentil and Baked Vegetable Salad and Tender Pork with Tangy Tamarind Chilli Sauce – 3 Hello Fresh Recipes!

‘Prior preparation prevents poor performance’, a saying Reis often says to me when I groan about the boring planning jobs. With a smile, I remind him I am not one of his soldiers. Although I do value the truth in this saying, especially when it comes to eating well. Preparing healthy meals is difficult over the Christmas and New Year period when gift shopping overtakes grocery shopping and meal plans turned from being well thought out meals to ‘left-overs’ which whilst delicious are not necessarily nutritious or favourable to keeping your body in shape.

I was thankful when recently the kind people at HelloFresh gifted me a solution. They provide tasty recipes along with the fresh produce required to make the recipes, delivered right to my door. No planning, preparation or shopping. No turning to left overs. To prove their solution, they sent me a box to review their services for you! I have three Hello Fresh Recipes and review for you.

Here’s the meals HelloFresh helped me create from the beautiful produce above!
NB: All recipes below serve two people.

Lamb Koftas with Mint and Parsley Salad

Ingredients
2 tsp ras el hanout spice blend
350g lamb mince
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tomatoes, sliced into wedges
1/2 cup parsley, leaves separated
1/2 cup mint, leaves separated
2 lebanese bread

For the lamb kofta
Combine the ras el hanout, lamb mince, half of the red onion, garlic, lemon zest, and mix well to combine with your hands. Roll the lamb mince mixture into small balls and then thread them onto skewers, if you don’t have any skewers you can just cook them like meat balls.

Heat some oil in  pan over medium-high heat. Add the skewers and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned on all sides.

For the salad
Meanwhile, combine the remaining red onion, tomato, lemon juice, and the parsley and mint leaves in a salad bowel, dress with a few drops of olive oil and then toss to combine, taste and season with salt and pepper accordingly.

To serve
Serve your delicious kofta meatballs with a piece of lebanese bread and a handful of the parsley and mint salad.

Lentils and Roast Vegetable Salad

Ingredients
100g brown lentils
2 carrots, quartered lengthways
200g sweet potato, cut into wedges
1 red capsicum, cut into lengths
1 red onion, cut into wedges (NB: I left this out)
2 garlic cloves
80g rocket, washed
3 tbs parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 tbs olive oil
1 tbs white wine vinegar

For the lentils
Preheat the oven to 200°C. bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the lentils and leave to simmer for 20-15 minutes. Strain the lentils and then transfer to a salad bowl and allow them to cool.

For the veggies

Place the carrot, sweet potato, red capsicum, red onion, and garlic cloves onto a baking tray. Dress well with some olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Place the vegetables into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the onions have caramelised and the sweet potato is cooked through.
Add the rocket, chopped parsley, lemon zest and juice to the boiled lentils. Toss well to combine. Now add in the roast vegetables once they have cooled slightly (otherwise the heat will wilt the rocket).

To serve
Dress your delicious veggies with the olive oil and white wine vinegar. Divide between plates and enjoy!

Tender Pork with Tangy Tamarind Chilli Sauce

Ingredients
1/4 bunch coriander, roots, finely chopped
1 cm lemongrass, finely chopped (smells amazing!)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 long red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
2 tbs tamarind paste
2 tbs vegetable oil
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs fish sauce
350g pork tenderloin
150g rice (I didn’t use this)
1 bunch chinese broccoli (loved this!)

For the dipping sauce
Corriander roots are a great way to give dishes that extra little kick of flavour. Wash the roots to get rid of the dirt and then use all of the white part of the roots and chop them up nice and finely.
In a small bowl combine the coriander roots, lemongrass, garlic, long red chilli, tamarind, vegetable oil, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Mix well to combine.
Use a quarter of the chilli dipping sauce and pour over the pork tenderloin fillet. Make sure that the fillet is coated well and leave aside to marinade while you get going on the rice.

For the rice
Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the rice and cook it for 10-12 minutes until soft. Drain.

For the pork
Heat some oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add the pork tenderloin and sear on both sides for 1-2 minutes, transfer to a small over-proof plate or baking tray and place into the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Using the same pan, add the chinese broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes or until the broccoli leaves begin to wilt. Remove the broccoli from the heat and add the corriander leaves.
Remove the pork from the oven, and leave to rest for a couple of minutes before you slice it into 1cm thick pieces.

To serve
Divide the rice between the plates and serve the pork tenderloin with a side of chinese broccoli and the chilli tamarind dipping sauce on the side.

My thoughts

• In addition to saving me time shopping and meal planning, the produce was amazingly fresh. The quality was ten fold on that which you purchase at your local supermarket, especially the herbs.
• They provide all the nutritional information (including calories) for each meal. I almost fell off my seat when I saw how many calories were in each meal. So although healthy their portion sizes are quite large to accommodate men, so ladies be careful! You can also reduce calories by using spray olive oil and omitting or reducing the carbohydrates (ie. rice, bread).
• The recipes provided (above) are comprehensive and easy for anyone to follow.
• I loved exploring new flavours with their fresh herbs and spices.

Wait, the best is yet to come!

For my readers, helloFresh are offering you a $20 discount to use between now and 13 January 2013. Click here and use the code is ‘aFreshYear‘. Maybe this is what you need to kick start the coming new year? Maybe it will keep you on track and away from the left overs in the two weeks leading up to Christmas? Whatever your reasoning, it’s $20 off, subscribtion is flexible, you can change or cancel at anytime, why not give it a go?!

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