Weekend Cooking: When you can't go on holidays...

We have been in lockdown of some degree of another now for more than 5 months, and currently we are in stage 4 which is our strictest restriction level yet. That's a long time to have to find new ways to entertain yourself, or at least not to get too stuck in a humdrum routine.

It turns out that food is a real motivator for us. We have tried all different kinds of foodie things over the last months. There was the week where we ate different flavoured gourmet marshmallows, a few different types of fresh pastries, different flavours of macarons, we've made our own pasta, we've used our pressure cooker, and we've made macarons from scratch. And there is a fair chance I have forgotten something too.

One of the things we have done over the last 5 weeks is something called Atlas Masterclass, which is a concept that spun out of a restaurant called Atlas Dining.  The idea behind Atlas Dining is that every few months the menu at the restaurant changes to a different country around the world. The chef, Charlie Harrington (who has been on Masterchef Australia as a guest at least once), has taken that idea and changed it during COVID to Atlas Masterclass.

With the masterclass, each week there is a new cuisine, and anyone who orders it is sent a box which contains everything you need in order to create that week's menu, from the protein to pre-prepared sauces, eggs and vegetables.  There are two menus for each cuisine, one with two meat/chicken dishes and one vegetarian dish and the other menu is all vegetarian.  There are then videos on the website that you watch to help you recreate the dishes at home.

For the three of us, we purchase the four person box which costs us around $109 for three meals, which is pretty good value. We have a couple of single friends who are also doing it and they are saying that there are always leftovers, even when you order the box for one, and we also often have some leftovers. We are also catching up online to compare out dishes and then eat together. It's almost, but not quite, look going out for dinner.

The ingredients are restaurant quality, the veggies are always great quality, and there are always far more veggies than we would normally eat on our plates. And the best thing, all of the dishes are surprisingly easy and quick to make.

While we don't get the from scratch recipes, we have learnt a lot from doing these classes. For example, in British week there were baby carrots that we sauteed with the meat, which I would never have done but they tasted so good.

The first week we did this, it was Moroccan week, and the menu was:

Marinated Chicken, Caramelised Onion and Olive Sauce with Cous Cous (pictured)

Lamb Kofta, Tomato Sauce, Egg with Moroccan Carrot Salad
Vegetable Tagine

The chicken was delicious but the cous cous was a revelation. We will definitely trying to be a more adventurous when we next make cous cous. The way the kofta was plated was also interesting. You formed a donut shape with the meat  and then cracked an egg into the centre before serving it with a tomato sauce, which is something you could do in any cuisine I think.

We have decided to do every second week, so we skipped Portugal and instead did Britain. The menu that week was:

English Roast Chicken, Sauteed Vegetables, Rosemary Gravy 

Bangers and Mash with a tomato and onion sauce (pictured)

Mushroom and Leek Shepherd's Pie

The pie was a revelation. The leeks were around the side of the pie dish, kind of forming what would have been the crust, and instead of putting mash on top, it was seasoned grated potato with a some sauce to hold it together. And the rosemary gravy...yum.

We missed Italian week, although there was a pork dish that looked amazing, and this week it is Japan week. And this week, I remembered to take photos of everything, which I neglected to do in previous weeks. This week's menu is:

Teriyaki Chicken, Udon Noodles, Daikon Salad

Beef Tataki, Cucumber & Wakame Salad, Ponzu Sauce

Mushroom Okonomiyaki, Egg, Daikon

So, out of all of these ingredients, we made all of these dishes, and still had some veggies left over!

Over the coming weeks there are boxes for countries including Taiwan, Indonesia, Croatia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. There is also a favourites box which takes dishes from countries and mixes them together.

If you are in Victoria or New South Wales, I would definitely recommend giving those a go.

For those who are not, do any of these boxes sound appealing to you? How do you try new cuisines?

Weekly Meals

I have also decided that we will be recording our meals for the week here to to try and help us keep track of our meal planning and helps us keep some variety in our meals.  Of course, the first week when I have tried to do this it has been quite a challenge to remember what we had last Saturday!

Saturday: Beef stew
Sunday: Pork herb schnitzel, mash potato and beans
Monday: Lasagne
Tuesday: Chilli
Wednesday: Teriyaki chicken, udon noodles, daikon
Thursday: Beef tataki, cucumber & wakame salad, ponzu sauce
Friday: Mushroom okonomiyaki, egg, daikon






Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.