Fresh Basil Fettuccine & Yellow Tomato Sauce

Food Prep and Cooking

Nick:

Pretty easy - we made the rustic-style (read: chunky af) sauce in a sauté pan on one burner while boiling water and cooking the noodles in it on the right. My only complaint is that the noodles were corded up in a way that made it difficult to untangle them, and as a result despite our best stirring, the finished product had some of them stuck together two or three thick. Otherwise, no sweat.

Katie:

This is our first Blue Apron recipe! When we were choosing what recipes to try on their site, they helpfully added a tip on what cooking utensils to have on hand for the meal prep. Nothing too crazy, of course. We were even supplied with butter and red pepper flakes! I'm impressed. The old box assumed you had certain things on hand. The instructions are a little more in depth as well. The old box certainly told you what to do but I felt Blue Apron did a bit of a better job explaining things for this first recipe. 

Post-meal Thoughts

Nick:

Hmmm.... pretty good! I was a bit worried this sauce was going to be ULTRA CHUNK when we poured the canned yellow tomatoes out into a bowl, but I think they cooked down pretty well. The big blat of butter and cream we added made the sauce taste really good, and I'm normally not a creamy sauce person. I think I would get this again, although I wonder if just having a jar of nice cream sauce is less work. My only complaint is the zucchini, which doesn't really work here; if I'm eating a nice, garlicy, creamy noodle, I don't really want to have a zucchini piece in there I have to stop and chew for a while. To improve this dish, I would - you guessed it - axe the zucchini, which is quickly becoming as feared and ingredient to me as kale, green peas or mushrooms. Off to a good start with Blue Apron! (Typed "Blue Apron" like six times)

Katie:

I was initially worried about the level of chunkiness in the sauce. Nick is notoriously anti-chunk. Any dish with too different mouth textures included (soup that has too big chunks you need to chew, for example) sets off his Nick alarm during which we are all subjected to, at length, how there was "too much chewing" and "I don't want to chew for 30 minutes on one bite". I can sympathize since I don't like meat you have to chew more than a few bites and whatnot so it's not like I'm not a weirdo too. And you've read all my reviews where I'm all "I don't like gummy food" or whatever. I can already sense Nick coming up with a rebuttal from his side of the couch. 

Back to the food! I thought this was very good and would definitely get it again. The creamy sauce didn't taste like hot milk but instead carried the flavors of the garlic, red peppers, and others with it. I never felt I was missing anything from one bite to the next either. Everything was well blended and complemented each other. There was no weird kale bits crapping up the joint either! I agree with Nick on the zucchini, let's axe it for next time. It's, at best, just there without a flavor of its own to contribute. 

Nick PS: In my defense, as Katie noted, she doesn't love chewy food either. Which one of us hates gum so much every time they pass someone chewing it yells "Look at this dumb cow chewing their cud!!!" at the closed car window? I rest my case.

Katie PPS: Mostly just when it's with the mouth open and there's that loud wet mouth sound.