Nutty goat’s cheese salad – by Gousto

The Gousto experience

Gousto is a top UK ingredients delivery service. For more information about Gousto and how it works, please see my earlier review: The Gousto Experience

It’s simple. You select the meals you fancy from their weekly menu online. They deliver all the pre-portioned ingredients to your door in their special packaging. You cook the meals according to their very easy instructions.

Today I’m reviewing Gousto’s nutty goat’s cheese salad.

A Gousto meal

The salad looked interesting in its photo on Gousto, and Mr Not Delia is a particular fan of goat’s cheese, so this was an obvious choice for my third Gousto meal.

Ingredients provided

The Gousto goat’s cheese salad kit consisted of:

• 125g French goat’s cheese
• 50g baby leaf salad
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 30g chopped dates
• 1 red onion
• 300g sweet potatoes
• 30g 3 seed mix

Ingredients I had to provide

• olive oil
• pepper
• salt

Equipment required

You need an oven to roast the vegetables, a large saucepan and a hob as well as a couple of baking trays – kitchen basics.

Cooking the dish

As usual, cooking a Gousto meal is simplicity itself – eight simple instructions and less than 30 minutes from fridge to plate.

Preheat the oven to 220° (200° fan/gas 7)
Chop the sweet potatoes (skin on)
Quarter the red onion (skin on)

Put the sweet potato and onion onto a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
Put the tray in the oven until the onion is tender and the potato is cooked and starting to crisp

Meanwhile, wash and dry the salad
Add to a large mixing bowl

Add the seed mix to a separate baking tray or heatproof dish and put it in the oven for 5 min to toast the seeds
Remove and allow to cool

Meanwhile, make the salad dressing by combining the vinegar and oil, and season with salt and pepper
Chop the dates a bit more so they’re very finely chopped

Grind a generous amount of chopped pepper onto a chopping board, add the seeds and the dates and chop the lot roughly
Roll the goat’s cheese in this mix
Use any seeds left for garnish

Once the veg are done, remove the skins from the onion  and separate the onion quarters into petals
Add them to the salad bowl along with any remaining seeds and toss with half the dressing

Slice the seeded goat’s cheese into thick slices
Serve the salad with the goat’s cheese on top and drizzle the remaining dressing over.

What I liked about the Gousto meal

It couldn’t possibly be simpler to make.

The food was very tasty. This is ultra-important for me because I’d rather spend more time if it’s necessary for creating something which tastes good. Gousto provided the means to go for quick and easy without any loss of flavour.

The food was tasty and filling and the portions were very generous. One portion of the puttanesca was plenty for two lunches for me and the other portion was more than adequate for our resident gannet, aka Mr Not Delia.

The pre-portioned ingredients meant that I didn’t have to buy more of anything than what was required to make the dish. This resulted in no waste. I completely understand why people say that buying Gousto boxes significantly cuts their food bill and reduces their food waste.

After cooking, there was no need for storing extra ingredients and later wondering how to use them up. I like cooking but one of the chores is cleaning up afterwards, and that includes packing and storing all the bits and pieces that weren’t required for that particular meal. The washing up was minimal too – only one pot!

The recipe clearly stated up front what other ingredients I would need so it was a simple case of getting those few things out of the cupboard – a mise en place in seconds!

A Gousto box is a super opportunity to try new things and cook recipes you might not previously have thought to make.

I never usually think about calories but for those who do, each recipe card has nutritional information with calories, protein, fat and carbs. By the way, each portion (per person) of the puttanesca had only 559 calories.

I think even the most hesitant cook would be able to easily make this meal.

Not so keen

As with most Gousto meals, I liked everything about it and couldn’t find a single thing to criticise.

Conclusion

For busy working people it’s a no-brainer. It’s quick and easy. It’s a good way to try new foods. It reduces your food bill by eliminating waste. There was minimal washing up to do afterwards. It could be ideal for any camping or self-catering holiday too. It’s ideal for inexperienced cooks but even experienced cooks can enjoy this – I did. It’s fun! But most importantly, the food was delicious. Oops, I almost forgot to say the Gousto puttanesca is vegetarian.

I’m a fan!

Gousto are so sure that you’ll love their boxes that they’ll even let you try one for half price. You can get 50% off your first box, with no long-term commitment. Why not give it a go?