Ottolenghi During the Queen's Jubilee

Meze boxes

This year marked 70 years that Queen Elizabeth has been the British monarch. The first weekend in June there were parties, parades, events and activities scheduled throughout the UK. Businesses got in on the event too. 

The business offer that interested me and my daughter was the Ottolenghi Meze food box in honor of the Jubilee. We had been making "Otto" recipes for the previous two months. We thought it would be fun to experience an "Otto" food box. We decided that we could prepare and eat it on the day of the Jubilee. She ordered it.

View of the contents

We were impressed with the packaging. Each box contained containers that were numbered. The numbers corresponded to the foldout brochure of how to assemble the ingredients. The brochure was so detailed! The photos were terrific. Yes, our dishes looked like the dishes in the brochure!

Adding the finishing touches

It was fun to follow the photos and "create" an "Otto" meal. The information said the ingredients served two; but, it easily could have served four. There were three of us and we had leftovers!

We did make a batch of hummus and a chocolate dessert because we thought we might be short on food. Later, we said to ourselves. . "What were we thinking???"

Baked rhubarb

My daughter's friend, Fritha, is a chocolate lover so it was the perfect time to try the Mint and Pistachio Fridge Cake dessert from the SIMPLE cookbook. She and my daughter prepared it while I distracted the granddaughter. Fritha also took the lead with directing the assembling of the various dishes. Plating the items went quickly. She was a great project manager!

The food was delicious. It was so much fun to share the experience with Fritha and my daughter. What a way to mark the Queen's Jubilee! I'll definitely remember where I was and what I was doing when the celebration was happening!

The menu in the Meze box was: Mixed Shawarma (lamb and mushroom), flatbreads, sumac yogurt; Beetroot, goat's cheese, hazelnuts; roasted carrots, harissa, pomegranate; Gem lettuce, Burnt aubergine, Smacked cucumber, chili shatta; Tamarind and tomato braised chickpeas; Baked rhubarb, Sweet labneh, pistachios.

Mint and pistachio fridge cake

Every dish was good. Every dish was artfully finished and beautiful to view. We had made the smacked cucumber salad and ours was equally as good as the one that we prepared from the box. We felt the same way about the sweet labneh. Later we made a dish that incorporated sumac yogurt and decided our was as good as what we ate on Jubilee Day!

I liked the braised chickpea dish and will look for that recipe! I also liked that it was a "tuck in" sort of meal. Take a bite of this, take a bite of that and visit!

While we ate, we watched the air show. The aircraft flew near my daughter's flat and a few minutes later we could see the same aircraft on the television flying a pattern around Buckingham palace. We watched the Queen wave to the huge crowd as we listened to the telecast personnel describe all that was going on. We enjoyed our celebration. I will always remember the Queen's 70th Jubilee!

Posting about this Ottolenghi experience was goal number six on my July list. Stay tuned, there will be a future post about other "Otto" dishes!

Aerial formation--70

The food

Ready to 'tuck in'