Just because you don’t have time to cook a big slap-up meal for yourself, or you’re too tired to go out to eat, doesn’t mean you have to resort to eating bland, flavourless ready meals. Choose instead a fresh, ready prepared, restaurant-standard meal, including only the finest of ingredients, that you can bung in the microwave or shove in the oven!
David Oliver Fine Foods was created by two clever chaps named Barry and Ben – okay yes they are actually called David and Oliver, who saw no reason why a fresh ready meal couldn’t be prepared in the same way as the food that you would find in gastro pubs and restaurants, so they put their money where their mouths were.
They wanted to produce good quality, honest, hearty meals that could be prepared simply in their own homes at a fraction of the price of going to a restaurant. (BT Top Tip – they are also good quality meals that you could sneakily pass off as your own cooking at a dinner party.)
As chefs, David and Oliver state that their emphasis is on the standard of the product, and that they rely on the quality of ingredient and traditional slow cooking methods to create full, rich flavour. We at Blue Tomato spent our weekend with our pots and pans securely locked away as we sampled all four meals: British Beef & Dorset Ale; Guinea Fowl & Lentils; Rabbit and Flageolet Beans; and Classic Venison Stew, and we can confirm that, oh yes, the meat was most certainly slow cooked.
Quite honestly (and understandably) we were expecting chewy, stringy, dry meat in the meal, as often found in meals you can cook in four minutes in the microwave, so we were pleasantly surprised as the meat fell apart on our forks – particularly the Venison – and the flavour, so delightfully strong, filled our little Blue Tomato kitchen and our massive Blue Tomato mouths.
The guys claim that each meal includes two of your five a day and it is easy to see how. Each meal is a complete meal, complete with great meat, carbs and vegetables all incorporated with rich, delicious sauces. We particularly enjoyed the lentils with the Guinea Fowl.
They are all warming, homey, comforting meals - and gave us all the urge to go home and visit our mums! They are available to buy online and are now also stocked in 30 central London Waitrose stores. Visit the website now to stock up for the winter!
Written by Sophie Jones
Date posted: 16/11/2011
Category: News.
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