Tag: sainsburys

Posted on

Stuffed Duck Legs

Sainsburys have recently released a new range, called Easy To Cook Autumn Meals.

We have tried a few and as you might expect some are better than others.

We did try the Stuffed Duck Legs, which were part-boned duck legs with a fruity pork stuffing.

Easy to cook, the instructions did seem to indicate to cook them for an extraordinarily long time

They were quite tasty, though a little dry, I think that was even though I cooked them for a shorter time than in the instructions.

I do like duck and this concept sounded good, however the end result was not as good as I hoped.

Posted on

Fish and Chips

In the past I have enjoyed fish and chips from Sainsburys, it has been a nice piece of fish, freshly cooked and served with chips and peas. So when I was in there recently and saw it was on special, only £3.79 rather than the regular £4.79 I decided that I would have that for my lunch.

When it arrived it did look quite nice.

The fish was smaller than usual, so I was slightly disappointed.

When I cut into the fish I was even more disappointed, the batter didn’t appear to be “fresh” in other words this was not freshly battered fillets of fish, but pre-battered fish (the kind you buy off the shelf or from the freezer and put in the oven) that the café had then deep fried themselves.

As a result the fish looked and tasted over-cooked.

The chips were okay as were the peas, but I was disappointed with the fish and the meal as a whole.

Now I could also go on about the service on the day. Despite having lots of staff in the café it seemed to take both ages to place an order and then for the food to arrive. Part of the issue was only one till was working.

Posted on

Chicken thighs with pork, sage & thyme stuffing

Sainsburys have recently released a new range, called Easy To Cook Autumn Meals.

We have tried a few and as you might expect some are better than others.

One we did like and have bought again, was the boneless chicken thighs with seasoned pork, sage & thyme stuffing.

Something that is relatively challenging to do yourself and takes a fair bit of time is to bone chicken thighs and stuff them. These already prepared saves a lot of time.

I roasted mine in the oven for 20-30 minutes with chopped onions, mushrooms, pepper and courgettes. I also added cubes of bread with ten minutes to go.

Once cooked, I let them rest for five minutes before slicing them and serving them.

Posted on

Beef and Ale Casserole

Sainsburys have recently released a new range, called Easy To Cook Autumn Meals. They are currently 25% off.

We have tried a few and as you might expect some are better than others.

We tried the Beef & Ale Casserole and were, well, slightly disappointed.

I was pleased initially to see that they used shin for the cut of beef rather than the traditional stewing beef I would expect. The onions and mushrooms that came looked a little disappointing and tired. Rather than provide a sauce, these meals seem to be using a new paste technique to which you add water.

I followed the instructions almost to the letter, just adding some carrots and topping with some dumplings. Though the recipe didn’t call for it, I did brown the shin before placing it in a casserole dish and topping with the sauce made form boiling water and the included sauce paste. At this stage I did add the extra carrots. This was cooked for eighty minutes before adding the onions and mushrooms. This was then cooked for a further forty minutes before I added the dumplings which were cooked for a further twenty minutes.

The beef was very tender, however the whole dish lacked flavour. You certainly couldn’t taste the ale. Overall what I hoped would be a simple dish to cook, was to be honest a disappointment. So much so that if I was going to cook something like this again, I would cook it from scratch using fresh ingredients. The dumplings were great, but then I made those myself!

It cost £3.74, but will be £4.99 after the offer period has ended. I don’t think this is value for money and would rather spend more on some nice beef and a bottle of ale than buy the pack again.

Posted on

Sainsbury’s Paella

So there I was at Sainsbury’s looking for something for lunch when I happened upon the Taste the Difference Paella.

Marinated succulent King prawns, chicken and chorizo made with a fresh smoked paprika-tomato ragu and saffron flavoured bomba rice topped with chargrilled red peppers.

I had seen this many times before, and though I like Paella, at £6, wasn’t really how much I wanted to spend for lunch and, I wouldn’t buy paella to eat at home as I can make a better one.

However this time it was not only on special, half price, it was also as the sell by date was today, it wasalso  reduced to £1.99.

Now I don’t mind spending £1.99 on lunch.

So how was it?

Well first the photograph above is the actual dish and not some marketing photograph.

The chicken was moist, the prawns were succulent and the peppers were nice. However the rice lacked flavour, I couldn’t taste the saffron, the chorizo was tasteless. Glad I only paid £1.99 for it and not £6!

So basically it was okay as ready meals go, but I couldn’t taste the difference.

Posted on

Sausages

I cooked some Sainsury’s Taste the Difference Ultimate outdoor reared pork sausages.

They were quite nice, meaty, not too salty and didn’t go bang!

Posted on

Pork with Borlotti Beans

This pork dish was a throw together type of dish and alas the pork was not as tender as I hoped. Though I think that was more down to the pork I used. I had some diced pork and I think it would have been better with medallions of pork fillet, or possibly cooked for a lot longer.

In a large frying pan I browned off some diced pork. Once this was browned it was removed from the pan and I cooked off some diced onions and mixed peppers.

To this I added Sainsbury’s Boeuf Bourguignonne paste from their new Ingredients for Cooks range. I then added some water, on the assumption that the concentrated paste would have sufficient flavour and salt already added.

This I then let simmer for about thirty minutes, before adding a small tin of cooked borlotti beans.

I served this with some plain boiled rice.

Posted on

Basil & pine nut margherite

If you are looking for an interesting pasta starter than the basil & pine nut margherite fresh pasta from Sainsbury’s Taste the difference range could be a good choice.

The egg and spinach flower shaped filled pasta is stuffed with a basil and pine nut filling (a bit like pesto).

Cooking in just a few minutes I served mine with a quick sauce made from creme frache and parmesan cheese, then adding some freshly ground black pepper.




Posted on

Chargrilled Tuna

I went out for lunch and had a nice piece of chargrilled tuna with vegetables from the café at Sainsburys, which was both delicious and in some ways was also surprising.

Chargrilled Tuna

I wasn’t quite expecting them to do such a good looking and tasty dish. The sauce was nice and the accompanying vegetables was a nice touch.