A Moroccan meal kit review

And some recommendations.

Saturday marks the start of the next lunar cycle, with a new moon gracing our skies.

Not that there’s anything visual to mark this event. A new moon means no moon to look at; it’s not illuminated by the sun, so it blends into the night sky.

Coinciding with this event is a solar eclipse, which we won’t be able to see here in Australia (although some parts of the country were lucky enough to catch one earlier this year).

Even more excitedly, this will be a ‘ring of fire’ (annular) solar eclipse, where the moon appears to cross the sun, creating a ring of light around its body. If you’re based in America, you may be able to see this rare phenomenon – very lucky indeed.

The new moon coincides with Australia’s first referendum in over two decades, where the country chooses whether or not to amend its constitution to formally recognise its First Peoples.

Traditionally, a new moon symbolises a fresh start. New beginnings.

Let’s see how things pan out.

Today’s missive contains a local (to Melbourne and kinda Sydney and Canberra) meal kit review (with a bit of a twist), a very interesting Australian story and a rave review of a new pair of shoes.

Review: Atlas Weekly meal kits

I’m never quite sure of how to feel about meal kits. Are they incredible handy, or do they take all of the creativity out of cooking? Cost effective, or just plain expensive for what they are?

Let’s leave opinions about the likes of Hello Fresh and Marley Spoon on the kitchen floor for now. Instead, I’d like to talk about Melbourne restaurant Atlas Dining’s meal kits – self-claimed to be the best in Australia.

We're off an (another) culinary adventure, to Morocco this time.

Passport checks

Atlas Dining’s schtick is that they change their menu entirely every few months, to base it around a particular cuisine. Why? Well, Chef Charlie Carrington, realised at the tender age of 22 that he loved to travel (me too, Charlie, me too). After working in some of London’s top kitchens and embarking upon a months-long research trip around the world, he opened Atlas Dining in 2016.

Since then, the restaurant has ‘travelled’ to 16 different destinations around the globe and won a stack of awards. Its current menu pays homage to Greek cuisine. I wonder if it includes lemon and chicken soup?

When kitchens around Melbourne were forced to close in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, most kept themselves afloat (if that) with takeaway service. Atlas Dining went one better and launched cooking classes, naming them ‘Atlas Masterclasses’. Recipes were designed around a destination, ingredients sent out to bored and lonely Melburnians and Carrington would hop on Instagram Live three times a week, to walk virtual attendees through his recipes.

In fact, due to feeling largely uninspired during Melbourne’s many lockdowns, I took one of these masterclasses! In 2020 or 2021 (because to be honest, they blend together in memory) I ‘travelled’ to Taiwan, a place I have long wanted to visit… primarily for the food. I don’t quite remember what we cooked, but it was tasty and a bright point in what was otherwise a pretty dull period of time.

After the lockdowns ended and restaurants were allowed to reopen, Atlas Dining moved away from offering video masterclasses. The business, which was raking in cash, instead evolved into Atlas Weekly. Their focus is on 'mid-week meals for the whole family’ – still largely destination based. Subscriptions offer meals for pescetarians and vegetarians too.

Buckle-up

I’ve been fairly keen to ‘travel’ with Atlas Weekly and so, waited for the perfect destination to pop up. Morocco was placed on the menu a couple of weeks ago, along with a 15% discount. A little extra money in the grocery kitty sealed the deal. I placed an order and waited for my ingredients to arrive that weekend.

The Moroccan-spiced chicken once plated. Loved the za'atar carrots.

Take-off

That Saturday, a meal kit for two containing three meals was delivered to my house. For a little extra dosh, you can upgrade to four meals. This week’s fourth plate was a fish option and as I am the only person in our household who eats seafood (sob), I decided to stick to the three.

The Moroccan-themed dishes included:

• Moroccan-spiced chicken

• Slow-cooked lamb shoulder

• Baked egg shakshuka.

All three meals came with recipe cards (which were later emailed out).

Atlas Weekly’s point of difference is offering restaurant quality ingredients (rather than whatever you can pick up at your local supermarket), alongside spices, sauces and the like that are made in-house.

In short, most of the hard work had already been done. Meat is already marinated, or slow-cooked. Spices and sauces are ready to rock and roll.

All I had to do was chop up some veggies and put everything together.

As instructed on the recipe cards, we started with the chicken.

While tasty, this ended up being the least favourite of the three meals, for me. The chicken didn’t quite cook through despite my keeping it in the oven for over the time stated on the recipe card. I hold the oven entirely responsible for this, but another 10 minutes didn’t make a massive difference; I ended up frying the chicken in a pan to ensure it was edible.

We had the lamb the next night, which was delicious. A huge serving, there was enough for leftovers too, hurrah!

Then life intervened and the shakshuka ended up being made a week after we’d received the delivery. I foolishly hadn’t frozen the flatbread, which was sporting mould spots. Damn it, as I hate food waste! TG for composting. Some pita bread was sourced from the local grocers and the shakshuka put together. That minor hiccup aside, it was as delicious as expected, my favourite meal of the lot.

The baked shakshuka looks and tastes delicious.

Landing

So, final thoughts?

As some of the recipe bits and pieces (such as sauces) are made in-house, it’s a bit hard to replicate these at home at a later date. Atlas Weekly do sell spice mixes, some of which look quite yummy delicious. However, the secret sauces do kinda take away from the long-term value of these meals. If something is indeed that tasty, I’d like to replicate it!

I will say, it was nice to have all the ingredients delivered (with minimum packaging) and have a few meals for the week that I didn’t need to think about until it came to dinnertime. Which, obviously, is the whole point of meal kits.

All in all, is it something I’d personally want to do every week? No. I like to have leftovers and I do enjoy a bit of spontaneity in my cooking. Plus I need to pick a week when I know both I and my partner will be eating at home.

However, for a fun, occasional way to mix things up, I think there is some value in meal kits like these (and especially nice to direct your money to a local business, rather than a meal delivery service behemoth). I just wouldn’t be ordering them every week.

Atlas Weekly deliver, well, weekly to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. See their website for further details.

What’s Cooking recommends

• Read: I was completely absorbed by Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes With Death last week. I read quite a few memoirs, but not any like this. O’Farrell has, as the title may suggest, escaped death’s clutches seventeen times, sometimes in the most alarming of ways. The first and last essay are particularly haunting. It’s not a new release, but one still worth hunting down.

• Watch: Legendary Aussie band Silverchair (BELOVED SONS OF NEWCASTLE!) were on Australian Story a couple of weeks ago; or rather, 2/3 of the band, drummer Ben and bassist Chris, as lead singer Daniel Johns did not want to be interviewed. The trio disbanded in 2011 and the AS two-parter tells Chris and Ben’s side of the story; launched into stardom in their teens and the contrast of this to their lives now. This aired ahead of the launch of a book written by the two bandmates. I’ll be reading it as soon as I get my hands on a library copy.

• Listen: Well, I’ve been endlessly listening to Silverchair as the result of the above. Neon Ballroom is a fantastic album, Diorama teeters on the edge and they kinda fall off a cliff with Young Modern. Honestly, the song Emotion Sickness takes me right back to being 15 years old, which is both a nice and icky thing.

• Eat: I finally got the chance to eat at Dragon Hot Pot (there are several scattered around Melbourne). For the uninitiated, you pick out a bunch of ingredients, which you pay for based on weight, add a broth and sit down to enjoy. May have gone a bit overboard with the add-ons (CHEAP SEAFOOD), but it can happen to anyone, y’know?

• Wear: Having painstakingly saved for weeks, I’m now the proud owner of a pair of these Radical Yes sneakers. They’re so comfortable and so pink. Very much in love.

That’s all for this fortnight. The world feels more than a little wobbly at the moment. Take care of yourself, hug your loved ones and give your pets a cuddle.

‘Til we meet again, stay well and well-fed.

-Celine

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