4 days Ago By Sam Stevenson
We have all been there. Whether you are hosting family or friends, delivering a mouth-watering festive meal can be a ho, ho, whole lot of hassle. But could restaurant-quality food delivered directly to your door provide a welcome boon to that dreaded nightmare before Christmas? Something of an emerging trend, high-end names in the restaurant world such as Rick Stein are offering hungry foodies tasty products in easy-to-cook meal kits.
Now Steve Allen, Gordon Ramsay’s former Executive Chef, has teamed up with popular British restaurant Côte to launch three extravagant Christmas feasts, which claim to take the “stress out of cooking”. Express.co.
uk has put that to the test. We tried Côte at Home’s sumptuous Festive Chateaubriand Feast which serves up to six and costs £154.95.
The meal box, which arrived ready to be served after being prepared by Côte’s expert chefs, was designed so dishes could be heated at the same temperature. Former Michelin-star chef Allen focuses on fresh seasonal ingredients to showcase the classics, with a French twist. And his meal box comes complete with simple instructions – meaning anyone can give this a go.
An opulent 1kg portion of succulent chateaubriand is accompanied by seasonal sides including pigs in blankets with a spiced honey glaze, spiced braised red cabbage, Brussels sprouts au gratin, roast potatoes, rainbow roasted carrots, sage and onion stuffing and a shallot and thyme jus. It was a good job I enlisted the help of my parents-in-law and wife to polish off these incredibly generous portions. Cooking the products was easy enough because they mostly just needed “finishing off” in the oven – and some could be cooked in the microwave.
We were helped by having an extra cooking facility in the form of an upper grill oven. A single unit may have struggled to cope! The beef was melt-in-the-mouth delicious and all the trimmings were exquisite. Whisper it – very! – quietly but the potatoes came pretty close to beating my mum’s.
(But nothing can do that, right?) Overall, I could not find much fault and, for roughly £40 a head, it is reasonably good value for a truly slap-up meal without anywhere near as much of the fuss. If beef is not your thing, Côte's traditional Festive Turkey Feast (£124.95) serves up to six people and includes a 2-2.
5kg marinated British turkey breast from Larchwood Farm, East Anglia as the centrepiece. And if you really want to push the boat out there’s also a selection of delicious festive starters including chicken liver pâté (£8.95), infused with Grand Marnier and served with a fig chutney, truffled pumpkin soup (£5.
95) topped with crumbled chestnuts and pumpkin seeds and brûlée camembert (£5.95), which is sprinkled with sugar and caramelised to create a hard sweet crust, with grape chutney. All starters come with a freshly baked demi baguette.
And Côte at Home also offers a selection of festive desserts pear and almond frangipane tart (£8.95) with winter berry coulis (£8.95), Brandy Butter Madeleines (£8.
95) with whipped brandy butter and Bûche de Noël (£15.95) a traditional chocolate roulade with pistachio cream. Executive Chef Allen said: “Our Côte at Home Christmas boxes have everything you need to create a fabulous festive feast.
“From seasonal starters through to the main event and show-stopping desserts, you’ll find a selection of classic Christmas dishes with a touch of French flair. “What’s more, everything is effortless to prepare in your own kitchen, so you won’t miss out on that all-important time with friends and family. Joyeux Noël!”.
