Rating: 7/10
We never eat enough seafood – as only two of us in the family like it -, so I decided to order seafood dishes for my first week with Plated. It was a bad move as my husband ended up being out four out of five nights this week, but I made this one for our sole dinner together. It was a modest success.
The meal kit for Scallop Penne with Mint-Spinach Pesto, Roasted Mushrooms, and Walnuts consists of 4 components: baby scallops which are simply seared, a spinach pesto which you make in the blender, mushrooms and walnuts which you toast in the oven and pasta, which you cook and mix with peas. That meant the use of three pans plus the blender, which for someone like me without a dishwasher, is a little more washing that I like to do. I also wasn’t excited about having to roast the mushrooms and walnuts in the oven, as it seems to me a waste of gas to have to preheat the oven for just this purpose. I wish Plated’s recipes were a bit more efficient.
All that said, the meal was very simple to put together and cook. I was very happy with the spinach pesto, which seems like a good way to get some veggies into your diet. I was hoping I could make the pesto vegan by not adding the Parmesan, but without it it had a terrible flavor. With it, it was perfectly balanced. I should note that I added the whole package of Parmesan, not just half.
The other problem with this meal kit is that it didn’t include enough walnuts or mushrooms (there were maybe 5 walnuts and 3 mushrooms for the whole meal). It was good as it was, but more of the two would have made it better.
I was afraid that the meal wouldn’t be large enough for two, but we were both satisfied after eating it.
As a final point I should note that the scallops arrived semi-frozen. I don’t know if that’s because they were frozen to begin with or whether they semi-froze by being in contact with the freezer sheets.
All in all it’s a good meal and I will make the spinach pesto again (recipe below).
Spinach Pesto
- 1 1/2 oz spinach leaves
- 1/8 ounce mint leaves
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 oz Parmesan or vegan Parmesan cheese
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp water
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 tsp salt
Using an electric blender, pure together the spinach and mint leaves, garlic, cheese, olive oil and water. Once you have a smooth paste, mix in the lemon juice and salt.