Oh Blue Apron!

Blueapron is just plain awesome. Even if you don’t pay for it – the recipes are free! Here are a few of my all time favorites:

  • Roasted Cauliflower Meunière – Oh browned butter and lemon juice (aka Meunière), delicious is thy name! It is hard to describe how well the flavors agree in this dish. Wonderful kale and roasted cauliflower, along with this sauce of all sauces, topped with an egg of all things (it works!) sprinkled with parmesean panko breadcrumbs. A few thoughts: 1) i can’t believe i lived this long without trying Meunière, 2) panko and parmesean belong together, on my plate, and 3) you can substitute sweet potato for the egg (i’ve done it and its delicious).
  • Manhattan-Style Fish Chowder – More surprises here like: 1) a soup with fish?! 2) Lemons make the dish yet again, 3) this actually tastes far fresher and is just as comforting as the best clam chowder you could dream up. Note that along with the other commentators, i agree that you should halve the Old Bay seasoning.
  • Shokichi Squash Ragù & Mafalda Pasta – This is a stunning dish if done right. No ingredient is optional. I once proved this by omitting the celery. It is important to have the right pasta, otherwise the noodles won’t catch enough of that gorgeous, creamy butternut squash sauce (im sure Steve Jobs would describe it thusly). And oh thank heavens for rosemary.
  • Roasted Cauliflower Steaks – I cannot think of a recipe whose name more completely belies the supreme beauty and taste it affords than this. This recipe has all the tastes: lemon zest on the lower farro/arugula layer, mild roasted cauliflower in the middle, and a symphony of nutty hazelnuts, sweet grapes, bitter shallots, creamy browned butter and citrusy lemon on top. If you can find fennel pollen, great – otherwise finely chopped fennels seeds suffice. This dish is beautiful: red grapes, green arugula, white cauliflower, brown farro. Like the best blue apron recipes, the ingredients are all familiar on their own, but I doubt in even geological time scales I would have dared combine them in one dish.

I am no blue apron salesman, but I do love the idea of freedom from tyranny – and blue apron frees you from the oppression of bland and boring food. Additionally it provides an exciting escape from the meat-centric, canned-food based recipes of your childhood. Go blueapron!

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