Dish 1: Ruby Red Trout with Creamy Dill Sauce, Sautéed Chard, and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

April 7, 2017: Ruby Red Trout with Creamy Dill Sauce, Sautéed Chard, and Roasted Fingerling Potatoes. This is from my second box from Plated. As I mentioned in my last post, Plated is more expensive than some of the other services, but they also allow the user to choose how many meals they want to receive (2-4) and how many dishes per meal (2-4). To save some money, I ordered only two meals this week. I intended to order a dessert as well, but I think I forgot to confirm the addition.

The box arrived on Tuesday, but I didn’t have time to cook it until Thursday evening. After previous experiences with other boxes (*cough* Martha Spoon), I was a little worried about how well the fish would hold up to the extra storage time, but those concerns were unfounded. The fish was great quality and skin crisped up beautifully. In the past, I’ve had mixed luck getting the skin on fish crispy without it sticking to the pan, but the recipe card offered some helpful instructions that I’m sure helped with my success.

The Swiss Chard got a little over-chilled during transit/storage, but it wasn’t noticeable after it was cooked. The fingerling potatoes were crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. My only complaint was the dill sauce. There was a touch too much mustard in the mayo-based sauce, but I’m willing to admit that this criticism is probably more due to my personal dislike of mustard than anything wrong with the recipe.

This meal was absolutely delicious and quite filling. I would definitely make it again, but I’d do a sour cream dill sauce rather than one with mayonnaise and mustard.

Dish 2: Cheesy Sweet Onion Panini with Truffle Fries

April 8, 2017: Cheesy Sweet Onion Panini with Truffle Fries, my final meal from Plated. I love a good sandwich and this certainly fits that description. The addition of arugula helped to cut the richness of the sautéed onions and fontina/Gruyere mix. I went light with the mustard, but it added a nice touch of tanginess. I cooked it in my George Foreman grill which made cooking the sandwich super easy. I only wish the bread was whole wheat or multi-grain.

The portion of fries was supposed to be twice that size, but that seemed a little excessive, so I put aside the second potato for later, but the fries were gorgeous! The truffle zest was slightly peppery and earthy, and every time I got a bit of parsley I was reminded of the beauty of the world.

The downside is that this was a pretty darn expensive sandwich. The box was $54 for two meals, two servings per meal, so when broken down, this sandwich was $13.50. I could have gotten a sandwich on whole grain at Panera for less than that, and I could have gotten it on whole grain bread. I would say that the trout was worth the price but the sandwich, not so much.

My verdict is that Plated has amazing food, probably the best food of all of the services I’ve tried, but it was too expensive.

Plated – Week 2 Summary