16 Valentine’s Meal Kits To Try At Home
BLUEBIRD AT HOME
Chelsea mainstay Bluebird Café has created a one-off at-home dinner box for Valentine’s Day. Designed for two to share, the kit includes everything you’d expect to be served in a restaurant: bread and butter; cured Loch Duart salmon tartare with caviar, sour cream, crisp potato and chives; beef Wellington with truffled potatoes, celeriac purée, green beans, shallots, parsley salad and a red wine sauce; followed by poached Yorkshire rhubarb atop vanilla panna cotta with a salted oat and almond crumble. Extras such as a box of pink macaroons and half a bottle of champagne are also included.
Visit At-Home.DAndDLondon.com
CAFÉ MURANO – MAKE YOUR OWN RISOTTO KIT
If you don’t fancy an entire three-course dinner, but still want to create a memorable Monday-night meal, look to Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett’s Café Murano delivery arm. Of the selection – which includes pasta, whole lasagnes and bread-and-butter pudding – we love the look of this risotto kit, which comes with a 1kg bag of Carnaroli risotto rice, porcini mushrooms, parmesan, butter, flat leaf parsley and vegetable stock. Best of all, the kit serves four to six people, so you can enjoy the leftovers later in the week.
Visit Delivery.CafeMurano.co.uk
OTTOLENGHI – TEST KITCHEN MEZZE BOX
Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest menu for Dishpatch features a selection of dishes from Shelf Love, the latest cookbook from the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen team. First up, flatbread and skewers, which come with a choice of either British free-range chicken thigh pieces or confit portobello mushrooms coated in a punchy black lime marinade. Alongside these, turmeric, garlic and maple-roasted carrots are lightly mashed and served with coriander and pistachio pesto, creamy yogurt and pickled red onions; and grilled aubergines are served in a garlicky tomato sauce, finished with fried garlic, pine nuts and a drizzle of tahini.
Visit Dishpatch.co.uk
FARMISON – VALENTINE’S STEAK BOX
We love meat delivery service Farmison and its Valentine’s Steak Box showcases what it does best. The centrepiece is a dry-aged, matured sirloin chop, ready to be cooked and carved at home. The box also comes with a creamy peppercorn sauce and restaurant-style beef dripping Koffmann-potato chips. To start, the team has included London-cured smoked salmon and for pudding there’s a Pots & Co 80% Mapale Double Dark Chocolate ganache designed for two to share.
Visit Farmison.com
CHEZ ROUX – CLASSIQUE BOX
Michel Roux Jr’s new delivery-only box – sent via Dishpatch – offers a collection of traditional French favourites, centred around a hearty beef bourguignon. The menu begins with bread and butter, followed by French onion soup. Roux’s bourguignon uses beef cheeks and salty lardons and is served with pommes anna – a terrine of thinly sliced, layered potatoes, cooked until crisp – as well as a sharply dressed bitter leaf salad. Dessert is baba au rhum, made to a Roux family recipe.
Visit Dishpatch.co.uk
FARMACY
Veggies, take note. Plant-based, organic restaurant Farmacy is now offering its wares at home. Of its selections on Restokit, we like the sound of this Asian-inspired box, featuring leaves with seaweed, broccoli, cucumber, mushrooms, sesame seeds and a sesame ginger dressing; rice rolls filled with vegetables, herbs, vermicelli rice noodles and apple smoked tofu, served with a spicy peanut dip; and a centrepiece Thai pumpkin laksa rice noodles with pumpkin, greens, beansprouts and red chillies. For pudding it's a matcha and yuzu cheesecake with a seeded ginger crust and fresh berries.
Visit RestoKit.co.uk
HAWKSMOOR AT HOME – CHATEAUBRIAND BOX
If your other half loves steak, this is the one to go for. The highlight is a 35-day, dry-aged chateaubriand, which comes with easy-to-prep macaroni cheese and oven chips. Starters include Old Spot belly ribs and the meal ends with a melt-in-the-middle chocolate fondant and clotted cream. Customers can level up by adding blood orange gimlets and a bottle of rioja to their order. Intimidated by cooking a huge steak? Each box comes with full instructions and a QR code to take you to easy-to-follow masterclass videos with Hawksmoor’s exec chef Matt Brown.
Visit Shop.Hawksmoor.com
PARSONS
Parsons is preparing a classic three-course meal for this year’s celebrations. A soup starter combines British potatoes and leeks from nearby Covent Garden Market with dashi and fish stock. It’s then finished with slices of tender smoked eel from Severn & Wye and breadcrumbs made from Parsons’ signature Guinness bread. For the main course, expect sea trout en croûte served with a dashi cream sauce and finished with pops of Avruga caviar. To finish, a smooth 72% dark chocolate ganache is topped with a dollop of crème fraîche and a scattering of crushed amaretti biscuits.
Visit Dishpatch.co.uk
LIMA – PERUVIAN FUSION FEAST
This Peruvian menu offers customers a choice of either pulled suckling pig or whole-baked celeriac along with a choice of snack, starter and dessert. The meal starts with salty cancha corn and plantain crisps with aji verde (a spicy Peruvian green sauce) or puff pastry empanadas filled with slow-cooked beef. Next, choose between a truffled quinoa salad with Japanese shimeji mushrooms or beetroot and guava flavoured with anise, ginger and aji panca (Peruvian red pepper). We also love the choice of puddings: either pistachio cheesecake or milk brioche with chocolate mousse and coconut.
Visit Dishpatch.co.uk
FORTNUM & MASON – SALMON BREAKFAST BOX
If you’re more of a breakfast person, take a look at Fortnum & Mason’s latest at-home box. A Fortnum's favourite, its smoked salmon features in each of the department store’s restaurants and is the centrepiece of this box. The kit also includes a loaf of rye bread, six Cacklebean eggs, Fortnum's sea salted butter and a jar of Dark Navy orange marmalade. Almost nothing says Fortnum & Mason more than tea and this selection comes with a malty, robust breakfast blend tea along with a bag of Peruvian coffee.
Visit FortnumAndMason.com
BOCCA DI LUPO – SAN VALENTINO FEAST
Jacob Kenedy and Victor Hugo opened Bocca di Lupo in Soho 2008. The restaurant has since received various awards and accolades for its stripped-down, regional Italian cuisine. This Valentine’s Day feast offers a gastronomic tour of Italy, starting in Puglia with a burrata, before heading to Lazio for lobster risotto and then Venice for porchetta and grilled fennel and potato. To round off the meal, the restaurant has included a selection of Ligurian camogliesi al rhum – chocolate-coated profiteroles filled with chocolate-rum ganache – accompanied by a Tuscan pomegranate martini.
Visit RestoKit.co.uk
STEIN’S AT HOME – VALENTINE’S DAY MENU
If you’re into seafood, this one is for you. As with all Stein's at Home boxes, the amount of cooking in your own kitchen is minimal so you can relax and enjoy your meal. The Valentine’s Day menu includes a warm salad of monkfish and prawns; followed by lobster thermidor with a light cream and dry vermouth sauce flavoured with parmesan cheese and mustard, served with new potatoes and mixed salad leaves; this is followed by a chocolate mousse with chocolate crumb and raspberries.
Visit Shop.RickStein.com
PASTA EVANGELISTS – MAKE YOUR OWN RAVIOLI KIT
Never got round to making your own pasta? This kit has everything you need to create homemade ravioli. Each kit contains beautiful beech wood pasta tools from Italy, specialist pasta ingredients and recipes written by the brand’s head chef, Roberta. Following her simple steps, customers will be able to make their own ravioli from scratch. Just make sure to prepare a sauce too – we recommend purchasing a copy of Rachel Roddy’s An A-Z Of Pasta for simple, yet authentic, takes on classic Roman dishes.
Visit PastaEvangelists.com
SKETCH AT HOME – VALENTINE'S MMMM... AFTERNOON TEA
For something a little different, consider ordering in an afternoon tea. Sketch’s Valentines-appropriate, pink-boxed selection includes egg gougères; coronation chicken on malted brown bread; cucumber sandwiches on white bread; salmon and ricotta on rye bread; and truffled brioche buns. When it comes to the sweeter items, the box includes strawberry Battenberg; chocolate and red fruit gâteaux; redcurrant and poppy éclairs; Malabar marshmallows; blackcurrant macaroons, scones; and a raspberry Victoria sponge.
Visit Shop.Sketch.London
THE RIVER CAFÉ – VALENTINE’S BOX SET
It’s not the cheapest option on this list, but you can’t go wrong with a feast from The River Café, one of the capital’s most-loved restaurants. For its Valentine’s Box Set, you’ll get multiple courses including langoustines; tagliolini with lemon, rocket and crème fraîche; followed by beef in coppa or roast turbot fillet both served with cavolo nero, Tuscan-style roast potatoes and Treviso hearts. For dessert, there’s a mini tiramisu; then a box of La Molina milk chocolate-covered almonds and hazelnuts to tuck into in front of the TV later on. Customers can choose to add a bottle of Le Serre Nuove dell' Ornellaia 2016, Terre Alte 2018, or a half bottle of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé.
Visit ShopTheRiverCafe.co.uk
DISHOOM – MARMALADE MIMOSA & BACON NAAN ROLL KIT
If you love Indian food, Dishoom is the meal delivery service to know. For something a little different, order in one of its famed bacon naan kits, which now comes with a ‘Marmalade Mimosa’, made with Marmalade liqueur, fresh ruby grapefruit and Integrale natural sparkling wine. The kit contains everything you need for a fun brunch, alongside spices and loose-leaf tea to make the restaurant’s chai. Best of all, for every kit you order, the restaurant group donates a meal to Magic Breakfast.
Visit Store.Dishroom.com
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