Haute Cuisine for Cold Days
When it’s too cold to venture out, try dialing in the gourmet experience.
Frozen Gourmet: Convenience Meets Nutrition & Affordability
When the work and family schedule goes into overdrive, meal planning inevitably falls to the bottom of the priority list — at least that’s what seems to happen at our house. If you’re looking for streamlined supper solutions, Scratch Kitchen has your number. No, really — they’ll actually need your house number because they’ll be delivering a gourmet, frozen meal right to your front door.
What really impressed me about this company is the pairing of convenience with fresh, natural foods. So often, eating on the run equates to fast food or store-bought, frozen meals that are chalk full of preservatives and fat. At Scratch Kitchen, Chef Sean Patrick Murphy uses locally sourced and organic ingredients whenever possible and meals are prepared without additives and high sodium. The added bonus? Murphy is a parent himself, and his two children act as “chief tasters” for his dishes, so they’re guaranteed to be crowd-pleasers at the dinner table.
My family taste-tested Scratch Kitchen’s “Boeuf Bourguignon,” which the menu describes as “O’Brien Farms’ beef (from Winchester, Ont.) simmered in Burgundy wine, onions, lardons of bacon and a rich beef jus.” Our consensus, however, is that it’s best described as “simply delicious.”
Delivered right to our door (for a nominal fee of $5), this was truly a streamlined dinner solution that out-priced most burger joints by feeding your entire family for $30. After thawing the fully cooked food package in the fridge overnight, I just warmed the contents in a saucepan on the stovetop (I also elected to make a pot of creamy, mashed potatoes to go with it). The result was a rich, hearty dinner for four, which was ready in minutes. I knew we had a hit when my 10-year-old quickly cleaned her plate and asked, “Can I have seconds?” She did have a second helping (okay, maybe I did too), and we even had some leftovers the next day.
RELATED READS
Haute Cuisine for Cold Days
When it’s too cold to venture out, try dialing in the gourmet experience.
Find it
Ottawa
613.601.0672
Communities Near You
Related Stories & Recipes