DIY Dinners: 10 Greek Street
I have a friend called Emily who recently constructed a two-metre-long wooden bench from scratch, just so that visitors could sit down while joining her for an outdoor cup of tea during lockdown. Some people are like Emily.
Some people, however, are like myself, with a shelf in their wardrobe that has periodically collapsed every four months for the last nine years.
The problem with “Do-It-Yourself” is that you actually have to do it – and the thought of spending 15 minutes buying a non-broken bracket from Robert Dyas and screwing it into the wardrobe throws me into a fit of the vapours. I naturally push it to the back of my mind, before spending four hours making beef shin ragu.
Not everyone likes doing everything, and I suspect DIY restaurant kits may induce similar avoidant feeling in those who have bought them because they do. not. like. cooking.
I’ve tried out my fair share of them in these recent months, and the skill set they have required varies substantially. I enjoy the more hands-on ones: they offer an insight into what makes the restaurant tick. I can’t, however, imagine my kitchen-illiterate dad being too nonchalant at the requirement to turn unpeeled raw potatoes into beef-dripping roasties before being able to eat his steak (an early incarnation of Hawksmoor’s wonderful kit, since swapped out for oven chips).
Instead, my dad would be much better suited to 10 Greek Street’s offering. With regards to effort-to-yield ratio, the Dishpatch-delivered kit I tried from them was probably the most impressive test drive to date.
Easy as pie: Polenta cake with poached quince and creme fraiche
While kits from pasta restaurants et al can help elevate dinner, a midweek bowl of fusilli pesto will probably take you just 15 minutes anyway. Slow-cooked short rib with confit potatoes, roasted parsnips, carrots, braised kale and horseradish cream will not.
Having effectively put the contents of three vacuum packs into three hot pans, the receipt of a full roast dinner 15 minutes later seemed like a miracle of modern science.
The meat fell apart with dutiful ease, glistening even before being coated in its rich jus. Braised kale had not a dot of chew about it, while flavourful parsnips were the perfect reminder that winter ain’t so bad.
Granted, it wasn’t flawless: the confit potatoes took a little more heat and a dash of oil to get to the desired levels of crisp. Dessert — a polenta cake with quince and creme fraiche, which needed nothing more than a fourth hot pan and a warm oven — could have done with more of the advertised liquor for the fruit.
Otherwise, this one was as easy as pie (if pie wasn’t so damn hard to make).
This DIY kit was supplied as a complimentary press sample.
For more information, visit 10greekstreet.com or dishpatch.co.uk
