Before this recipe, I did not know skate was a type of fish. I also didn’t really know what schnitzel was, and I had never seen a fennel root. Skate is a type of white fish, I found it similar to tilapia in taste and texture, but I should mention I do not have a refined palate. Schnitzel is a method of cooking, where you take thin meat and coat it in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. I have used the schnitzel method of flour, egg, breading prior to this recipe, just never on very thin meat (usually fried chicken).  As for the fennel root, picture 3 shows a closeup.

This was the first recipe that was incomplete!  In the first step, Plated instructed me to chop the parsley. Which I did, but nowhere later in the recipe did they tell you what to do with it, so I ended up just putting it on top.  I contacted Plated to let them know, Heather told me it was supposed to be added in the sauce with the thyme. She also gave me a $6 credit for my trouble, which was not necessary, but appreciated! This was my second time contacting Plated about an issue (the first was about a moldy potato) and both times they have been very pleasant and placed credits on my account.

This meal was just okay in my book. My husband helped the whole time, and it still took 41 minutes, within Plated’s range of 40-50. I did especially enjoy the purple potato chips, but the rest was nothing spectacular. I wasn’t a huge fan of the fennel root texture, I would have preferred a different vegetable instead. Also, the sauce would have benefited from the parsley as there wasn’t really enough.  One thing I did NOT like at all was the disparity in the two fish fillets.  They were completely different sizes as you can see in the picture below- one was at least twice as big as the other. I ate the smaller one, and definitely wished I had a little more fish.

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My Italian husband LOVES pasta.  Especially gnocchi.  I don’t know what it is about those little potato dumplings it is that he enjoys so much, but he does.  I always try to order any Plated meal that has gnocchi or any other fresh pasta.  Fresh pasta tastes so much better than normal boxed pasta, but it also takes a lot longer to make and creates a huge flour mess in my kitchen.

This was another great Plated dish.  One thing I really need to do is go with my gut sometimes instead of following the directions completely.  For example, the recipe did not say to cut the artichoke hearts, so I left them whole.  These ended up being really hard to eat, as they were too large to eat whole and were awkward to cut once in the broth with the chicken and gnocchi.  My husband helped with this recipe and he took it upon himself to shred the chicken after cooking, which made it much easier and less messy to eat.  I let the chicken braise a little longer as we were busy doing other things, so it did take 1 hour and 12 minutes instead of the 45-55 minutes Plated advised.  But it was a tasty, delicious, and healthy meal.

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At the risk of being repetitive, this was another fantastic Plated meal.  It was ready in 45 minutes, exactly what Plated estimated.  I loved the roasted potatoes, but the real star was the sauce.  Sun-dried tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic, white wine, red pepper flakes all combined together gave a really rich briny flavor, that perfectly accompanied the cod.  I did make a fairly innocuous mistake, I had misread the directions and combined the basil and parsley, putting both on the potatoes.  Luckily it didn’t seem to affect anything really, and everything tasted delicious on the plate.  Sorry the first picture is so blurry!  I always try to get one of everything in the package, so if someone is considering Plated they have a better idea of what they will be getting.  There is still a good deal of prep work, but I think having a yummy healthy meal ready in less than an hour is pretty good.  🙂

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Prior to writing this blog post, I was not aware that tortelloni and tortellini were two separate words.  My research has told me that the former is typically larger and filled with cheese whereas the latter is smaller and filled with meat.  The more you know!  I was busy with other things while making this meal, so it took me 52 minutes instead of the 35-45 Plated state it would take.  But overall this was a nice, easy recipe.  Not too much chopping, and I thoroughly enjoyed making a little flavor satchel.  The broth was GOOD too!  It did feel a little wasteful to take out the onion, carrots, and celery, so while I did toss the onion, I gave the carrots and celery to my dogs.  They were super psyched about that!  This is another recipe that would be quite easy to duplicate.  I’d probably do a few things differently- keep the veggies, and probably wouldn’t make a flavor packet, but cooking pasta in broth instead of plain water really gives it a nice full flavor.  I also surprisingly liked the mustard greens in the pasta, as they really added a nice texture.  All in all, a pretty good meal from Plated!

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I LOVED that this recipe only required me to wash a cutting board, knife, one pot, and a spoon when I was finished.   The dish itself though was just okay.  Not great, but not bad.  I liked it, but I would be disappointed if I paid $12 for it in a restaurant.  My husband didn’t even finish his, I ate those leftovers the next day for breakfast.  It took me 35 minutes to make, so within the 30-40 Plated stated it would take.  It was a little difficult to get the noodles cooked, I ended up breaking a lot of them in half as it was easier than trying to stir the pot with all of the veggies in it.  I did really enjoy the edamame in the pasta, it gave a really nice texture.  Overall, this was a decent dish, but not something I would order again from Plated.

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This recipe taught me what larb is – according to Plated, larb is a spicy ground meat salad, popular in Lao and Thai cuisines.  It reminded me a little of those delicious chicken lettuce cups I’ve gotten at PF Chang’s.  Unfortunately there were not enough cabbage leaves for more than 2 cups per plate, but we tore up the rest and ate it as a big salad.  I really enjoyed the green beans chopped up in a salad, I would have never thought about doing that, and think that it’s an easy technique for future recipes.  I also love the idea of using lettuce/cabbage instead of a tortilla or other starch.

Plated said that this recipe would take 40-50 minutes, it took me 32.  I did, however, completely burn the shallot which made it inedible.  Luckily it was just a garnish and not really needed.  The finished plate on the right I gave to my hubby since it was prettier.  All in all, this was a decent recipe.  Not my favorite Plated meal, but gave me good ideas for the future.

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My husband and I found this meal quite delicious.  The flavors and textures were fanstastic and I really appreciated that there wasn’t too much prep.  I also liked that I could leave the ragout simmering for up to 45 minutes, which allowed me to wash dishes and spend some quality time with my husband.  Overall, from start to finish it took over an hour (Plated said 40-50) minutes, but 30 of those minutes were not active time.  I’m pretty sure that pappardelle is my new favorite pasta.  It’s very similar to fettuccine, but I have yet to see it in the grocery store.  It’s just something different that I think could enhance a basic spaghetti sauce and meatballs.

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Another good meal and dessert from Plated!  The lamb kofta was actually ready in 23 minutes, not the 25-35 Plated stated, however I had help from my husband.  He took care of seasoning the lamb and cooking it, I did the chopping and salad.  It was a very easy recipe, and also easy to replicate, espeically the yogurt sauce.  Who knew adding seasoning to Greek yogurt would make a decent tzatziki sauce?  I thought there was WAY too much onion and ended up only putting about 1/8 of an onion in the salad.

I also made the Chocolate Chip and Ricotta Cannolis.  While tasty, there just wasn’t enough filling for the provided 6 shells.  I ended up with 2 empty shells with no filling, but they tasted yummy!  It probably took me about 5 minutes to make the filling, then I let it chill.  Then it was about 5-10 minutes to fill the shells.

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This was the BEST Plated meal yet.  The flavors were delicious, and it was ready in only 47 minutes.  This was the first meal that my husband told me to keep the recipe card so that we could recreate it and make it on our own.  Everything about it was tasty, the broth, the spices, the noodles, the mustard greens, the chicken, EVERYTHING.  It was especially nice with the chicken thighs.  It’s not a cut of chicken I eat a lot, but I really liked the texture in the dish.  Plated said it would take 30-40 minutes, so it took me a little longer than that.  And, I’m not even counting the time it took to boil the water since I through that on the burner at least 20 minutes before I started the rest.  Thanks to Plated, I now know that “Khao soi is a Northern Thai curry-like soup of boiled and fried noodles, braised meat, and garnishes such as fresh herbs, chilies, and lime.”  I would definetly pay $12 a plate for the Khao soi I ate last night at a local Thai restaurant.  It was that good.

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This dish was just a big fat fail.  I followed all directions and the rice was undercooked, the quail needed 10 more minutes, and I learned my husband hates rice cooked with stewed tomatoes.  I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t as difficult as I feared- Plated said it was “Challenging” and it was actually fairly easy.  It took me 43 minutes, only 3 over the estimated 30-40 from Plated.  I was not a fan of the quail looking like quail.  I enjoy eating meat, but I don’t like it when my meat looks like an animal, it makes me feel guilty.  The quail itself tasted good, and it was partially deboned which was nice.

I did really enjoy the salsa verde.  I have never cooked with anchovies before, or ever even really seen an anchovy.  I thought that it gave the salsa a nice flavor, and it was somewhat entertaining to watch it dissolve while I stirred.  I could have used a lot more salsa, it was very tasty and I would have liked to mix it in more with the rice.

This was the first Plated meal we ever had that created leftovers.  My husband ate 1 quail and a little salsa, and was just not into it, so I packed up the rest for me to eat later.  I have learned a good lesson, I will never again serve my husband stewed anything.

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