Hello Fresh: Meal One

XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage

The first meal we chose was XO Chinese Chicken with Stir-Fried Sweetheart Cabbage. All the ingredients come in the exact amounts the recipe calls for so it's very easy to assemble with no counting or weighing (it feels like you're on a cooking programme!). You're supplied with a super easy to follow recipe card with step by step instructions and photos.

The recipe card

It took me quite a while to get all my ingredients prepared. I'm a fairly slow chopper and have been known to take my time in the kitchen. Once this was all done though, the meal was quick and easy to make (apart from my grill which annoyingly stopped working halfway through). The recipe card says that the meal can be made in 25 minutes and although the cooking part probably only took 15 minutes or so, the preparation took me a little longer. However, with practice I reckon I could get it down. It also doesn't help that my kitchen is only about 2 metres deep and 1 metre wide - with limited utensils - so I was juggling all the preparation over various plates and boards.

Food prepped (My only work surface space)

Although I chopped up the whole chilli (seen above), after trying a minuscule piece (and spending the next few minutes coughing and spluttering), I decided to only put in a pinch of it.

Chicken (butterflied) grilling with the XO sauce and marinade

Stir-frying the chopped ingredients

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. The dish was certainly flavoursome and tasty. When I originally saw how many noodles the menu required I was dubious if it would actually feed two people but when I plated up, I couldn't finish mine. The chicken was fantastic quality and all the herbs and veg were super fresh.

The final plate

Check back for tomorrow's meal - Pan-Fried Salmon with Homemade Guacamole and New Potatoes!
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