Wasabi Chicken Katsu Curry with Rice

Since I've not posted in a few months, I figured it was about time to put something up... and, in the absence of any new cooking (other than what's been going up on Instagram), it's going to be a conveniently quick post about a conveniently quick ready-meal.

It seems that the restaurant chain Wasabi Sushi & Bento have started producing packaged ready-meals, for cooking either in the oven or the microwave and, of the five boxes currently available, I found two options in my local branch of Sainsbury's: Chicken Katsu Curry and Sweet Chilli Chicken. Considering the number of own-brand Chicken Katsu Curries I've picked up in various supermarkets over the years - and having been thoroughly disappointed by all of them - I figured that I owed it to myself to try one that carries the brand of an actual restaurant chain that I frequent.

Approaching it with low expectations, I elected to cook it in my microwave - instructions are given for 700w and 900w, so I had to pick a mid-point for my 800w model - since cooking it in the oven requires one to decant the contents of the plastic packaging within the waxed cardboard box into separate, oven-friendly containers, to be covered over with foil (or lids where available). Since that would only add to the washing up I'd have to do later, the simple act of piercing the film lid and sticking the plastic tub in the microwave seemed like the most logical option.

It takes about 6-7 minutes to cook, and then has to be transferred to a plate, bowl, or my personal preference, the platey-bowl, which is a bit of a mission, as the rice and chicken have to be served up before the sauce can be poured on from the container... This still seems a little faffy for my liking, and I wonder if putting the sauce into a sachet, to be laid over the top of the rice and meat for shipping and storage purposes, might be the better plan. Nevertheless, here's the end result:

The first major difference between this and the average supermarket-bought Chicken Katsu Curry is the presence of large chunks of potato, carrot and onion in the sauce. In most others, there are no solid bits of veg at all and, on those rare occasions they are present, they tend to be fairly small. Straight away, this product looks better than the average supermarket fare.

I must confess that I was a little underwhelmed by the size of the katsu breadcrumb-coated chicken piece, and was a little concerned initially that the portion of rice was also on the small size. Conversely, when the sauce was poured over, it looked as though there was far too much, and that it would swamp the chicken and rice. Upon reflection, I'd say it's not as excessive as I first thought, but I could still stand to lose a few spoonfuls, while the quanity of rice is just right. A bit more chicken wouldn't go amiss, but the overall portion size is pretty good.

As to flavour, I find the sauces in most supermarket ready meals are Katsu Curry flavoured, rather than having the bite and spiciness of a true Katsu Curry. I'm happy to report that this bucks the trend completely. I can't quite remember how it compares to what a Wasabi restaurant would serve, but it's so much better than anything else I've bought from a supermarket. The chunks of veg in the sauce add to the texture and make the overall package that little bit more filling in the absence of a larger portion of meat, and I found this package very satisfying. The rice, sensibly, is plain but cooks very well in the package, while the chicken is prone to drying out at the edges. It doesn't become inedible or rubbery, just more difficult to cut, so perhaps I should try heating the package in two stages, reorienting it on the turntable halfway through.

Weighing in at £4.50 in store, or £4 via the website, it's in the same ballpark as Sainsbury's own 'Taste the Difference' line, but unlike the supposedly high-end own-brand, I really could taste the difference versus Sainsbury's cheaper, own-brand Chicken Katsu Curry tubs.

In fact, it's got me thinking that I should look into Katsu Curry sauces generally - either buying it ready-made or seeking out a recipe - and trying to make something like this myself, it get a better idea of how to get the spiciness just right. The only downside is that Courtney, being veggie, would not appreciate a chicken Katsu, so I'd need to identify an alternative... Perhaps Quorn or Tofu would suffice...

I've also tried Wasabi's Sweet Chilli Chicken box, which is nothing special overall, but the sauce again has a real kick to it. I think I'll need to seek out a bigger branch of Sainsbury's if I want to look at the rest of the line...

Chicken Tenders with Jim Beam

Say what you will about Iceland in general, they do manage to get some quite interesting exclusive products. I haven't visited my local store in ages but, in the run-up to Christmas, with their ramped-up advertising (always hindered by the obligatory b-list 'celeb' - currently Peter Andre - intended, no doubt, to add some form of glamour to the proceedings) my girlfriend and I decided to pop over for some freezable Christmas foodstuffs, so we wouldn't have to worry so much about shopping for fresh stuff - or doing proper cooking - this weekend and over the Christmas period. What with visiting both sides of the family while I'm away from work, I think we've got things planned out pretty well - including an original (yet wholly predictable) take on our Chrimbletide dinner.

While perusing the selection at Iceland, I noticed almost an entire freezer cabinet devoted to boxes featuring the Jim Beam logo and, while I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of bourbon - if I'm going to drink whiskey, I tend to prefer the Scottish kind - my previous encounter with a bourbon sauce was exceedingly pleasant. I didn't immediately pick up a box of these tenders because they didn't really fit with my Christmas plans and my freezer space is very limited. Picking them up was more of a "what the hell, why not?" moment, since I occasionally need a meaty accompaniment to one of the vegetarian dishes my girlfriend cooks.

I'd have to say that the breaded chicken is nothing to write home about - this ain't no KFC-style herb and spice fest - and the 380g box contains only seven or eight of them. They're a decent size, but the packaging's claim that it serves two is either very optimistic, or assuming use as a starter or as part of a larger main course.

Or maybe I'm still recovering from American portions, following my recent holiday in Los Angeles..?

The Jim Beam sauce is the only thing that raises this package anywhere above 'decidedly plain', and it raises it a hell of a way. The moment the sauce sachet is opened, you'll get a whiff of the boozy barbecue sauce and, if that's the sort of thing you like, this is sure to be a winner. It brings that familiar warming sensation from the first scent, yet retains the classic spicy, smoky fruitiness of a good barbecue sauce. In that sense, it's probably a good thing that the chicken is so plain, since strongly seasoned meat/breadcrumb would get in the way of the sauce.

I poured the sauce all over my chicken tenders but, upon reflection, suspect I may have been better off decanting the sauce into a pot - as illustrated by the packaging - and simply dipping the tenders. Thinking back to my holiday, one of the meals which defeated me was a plate stacked high with chicken tenders, which was served with (if I remember correctly) mashed potato and corn succotash... that sort of thing would go very well with this product, so I may be tempted to pick up another box once the freezer has cleared out a bit after Christmas.

There are a few other items in the range which look appealing - the ribs in particular, though if I do end up trying them, I fully expect it to be due to a triumph of optimism over experience. Watch this space.

On the other hand, since Jim Beam produce barbecue sauces separately, maybe I'll just get some of that...

Quick Pie Roundup

A selection of boxed pies under special offer turned up at my local Morrisons a couple of weeks back (yes, it's taken me that long to write about them - they were eaten very quickly). The range is called 'Pie in the Sky' and, while the packaging is all bright colours and fun cartoons, it doesn't list a website or even a Facebook page... pretty strange for a new product which is otherwise unique and stylish. In fact, the packaging doesn't even go into any great detail about the makers, Kerry Foods Ltd. Still, that's just a weird choice about advertising rather than anything important about the product, and it just means I can't add a link to them for convenience.

I picked up three different pies from a selection of four or five on the shelves and tried them out over the course of a week, either on their own as a quick snack lunch, or with a selection of veg for dinner.

Cluck & Sizzle
Contained within a box sporting a cute cartoon of a pig and a chicken, this is - no surprises - a chicken and bacon pie. It claims smoked bacon on the packaging, and the meat is in a white wine sauce. The pastry is nice and light, not overly stodgy or dry, but the filling is a bit of a mixed bag. It quickly becomes clear that the white wine sauce is probably the largest component in the pie, and the filling is very liquid. There are a fair few chicken pieces of a reasonable size, but the bacon comes in tiny shavings, none larger than a grain of rice, and it's not exactly plentiful. What little is there tastes good but is pretty much overwhelmed by the white wine sauce, so I honestly couldn't tell whether it tasted like smoked bacon or not. The chicken comes out better - it has good flavour in and of itself (unusual enough for chicken, let alone in a sauce, in a pie) and the sauce complements it well. The sauce has a good, rich flavour to it, but it's far too runny for this kind of pie, especially when there's so little meat in there.

Overall, it's very much a case of 'could do better', particularly where the shameful dearth of bacon is concerned. I'd expected good, hearty chunks of bacon (most likely with large amounts of fat, but beggars can't be choosers) rather than the crumbs floating in a sea of white wine sauce. More meat overall would have been a better complement to the quality of the sauce.

Moo Achoo
Long-term readers of this humble blog will no doubt be aware of my scepticism toward anything claiming to be spicy, and that seems to extend to 'peppered steak'. More often than not, any seasoning would get overwhelmed by the sauce but, thankfully, not so here. The contents of this pie are described as 'tender braised beef with cracked black pepper and onion in a rich sauce', and it hits the mark perfectly. The chunks of beef are nice and large (with no discernible fatty bits in the pie I tried), but pepper is very nearly the dominant flavour (albeit far from sneeze-inducing). The onion is softened to the point where it's almost undetectable, other than in the subtle bite it ads to the flavour of each mouthful. The sauce is definitely rich - not to mention much thicker than the white wine sauce in 'Cluck & Sizzle' - but it's essentially just a garden variety gravy. Also, perhaps because the makers didn't think there was enough pepper in the sauce, there's a sprinkling on the pie crust as well.

This was my favourite of the three pies, largely because the plentiful chunks of beef were so well complemented by the thick oniony, superbly peppery sauce. It's very warming and very filling.

Hot Cow
This pie - billed as 'hot chilli seasoned minced beef with kidney beans in a spicy tomato sauce' - I'm in two minds about. One the one hand, it seemed to be literally filled to the brim, and that is quite rare for packaged pies these days. The filling appears to be proportionally more minced beef than anything else, and it's very well seasoned, so as to be hot without being eyewatering. On the other hand, it's not very successful as 'chilli' because the bean content is extremely low, and the tomato sauce would be pretty bland were it not for the seasoned meat.

It's certainly filling, and as a component of a larger dinner it's excellent. It's just the right level of spiciness to go well with whatever you'd normally serve with a beef pie, but will go equally well with more heavily seasoned accompaniments.

Greggs Iceland Exclusive Bakes

The collaboration between Greggs and Iceland is leading to quite a range of products, both savoury and sweet. With between two to four pieces per box, and almost all products costing a mere £1.50 (Cornish Pasties cost £2 for two), they present excellent value for money as either part of a large dinner or small lunchtime snacks. Most of them are fairly standard fare - ham and cheese, chicken or beef in a puff pastry casing - but these two in particular caught my eye... and the reasons couldn't be more different...

Spicy Chicken & Pepperoni Bakes
I'm sure I've mentioned how dubious I am when foodstuffs - particularly of the frozen variety - claim to be 'spicy' or 'fiery'. Almost without fail, they are disappointing in that they lack basic flavour and any spiciness is mild at best. I mean, pepperoni is supposed to be spicy, but it very rarely is. I picked these up fully expecting to be completely disappointed, but I was surprised to find it was actually pretty spicy. Not just 'pepperoni spicy', either... it was more like chorizo.

The pastry is more or less the usual frozen Greggs stuff, coming out light, fluffy and crumbly. The filling isn't exactly overflowing, but nor is it as meagre as some of the others in the range. The chicken pieces are of a reasonable size, and the pepperoni pieces are certainly identifiable, but neither are as plentiful as the photo on the packaging suggests - it's the usual trick of pushing all the filling to one side to make it look full.

A suggestion on the box is that these can be served with potato wedges (and some kind of salsa, if the photo is anything to go by) to turn it into a 'proper meal'. I might be tempted to add something else, were I to go that route... Some sort of veg, perhaps, so it's not quite such a stodge-fest..?

Sausage & Bean Melts
Iceland has a very dubious product in its 'own brand' line called 'Cheesy Beans & Sausage', and this is essentially the Greggs version. There's no potato filler, it just gets wrapped up in puff pastry. What you have is a jumble of sausage pieces, probably about a dozen baked beans and a few shavings of cheese, all mixed up in the usual kind of tomato sauce you'd get from the average tin of beans. Of all the Greggs bakes I've tried, this filling was probably the most miserly and, again, the photo clearly involves some kind of artistic license with the quantity of filling.

The filling tastes pretty much as you'd expect - if you dislike any of the components (it's the beans, right?), you're likely to find them revolting, but I'm no stranger to these kinds of things - and it goes fairly well with the pastry. Thing is, it's only an egg and two slices of bacon away from an All-Day Breakfast Melt, so it's puzzling that the serving suggestion is to slap it on a plate with some mashed potato. The photo is rather ambiguous, too - it could be showing mash or scrambled egg with the generous dollop of ketchup.

My usual strategy for these things is to have an entire 2-pack for lunch (unless I'm not especially hungry) so as to avoid the large cardboard boxes occupying all that space in my freezer for too long, and to avoid the necessity to figure out some kind of accompaniment. Since my expectation for these bakes was that they'd be quite bland, all they needed to do was fill the lunchtime hole in my stomach. The Chicken & Pepperoni ones were a pleasant surprise, but the Sausage & Bean bakes met my expectations precisely which, in this case, isn't necessarily a good thing. Neither is a product I'd rush out to buy again - at least, I haven't bought any more since - but the former is one to remember for those times when I have virtually nothing in my freezer that isn't made of potato, while the latter probably counts as a form of comfort food.

Iceland Ultimate Snacks Fiery Chicken Melt Panini

I'm not sure whether it says more about me as a snacker or Iceland as a purveyor of snacks, but I'm beginning to find their line of 'Ultimate Snacks' a bit of a disappointment. I should probably have learnt from the meagre-yet-tasty Tuna Melt, but this £1 promise of "cooked Chicken Breast Pieces with a Chilli Seasoning and a slice of Cheddar Cheese with Chilli" just sounded too good to miss.

In terms of quantity of filling, it's very telling that my first two mouthfuls were bread with a hint of chilli sauce. After this, I opened the panini up and - going from memory, here - there probably weren't more than a dozen small chunks of cooked chicken in there. I'd also question the bit about the 'slice of cheddar cheese', because a slice wouldn't have melted quite so thoroughly after a couple of minutes in the microwave. I'm guessing either grated cheese or broken up crumbs of cheese were used - maybe a slice's worth, but that's hardly the same thing.

The sauce would have been more of a redeeming feature if it had been remotely 'fiery', but even the two-chilli 'Medium' flash on the box seemed like an overstatement. It's a fairly sweet chilli sauce which rather overpowers what little cheese is present, despite being so mild. A couple of mouthfuls were slightly spicy, but the rest was rendered mostly impotent by the huge amount of bread compared to its fillings.

What little chicken is there seems like good quality stuff, but the pieces are smaller and less plentiful than the image on the box would suggest.

If you're looking to stock up on frozen snack foods, this is one to avoid - there are others in the range with a lot more bang for your buck. Cheap as it is, it just doesn't live up to its description.

Birds Eye "Bake to Perfection" Chicken with Tomato & Basil Sauce

On the strength of Birds Eye's first "Bake to Perfection" product, back in February, I vowed to try every other entry in this impressive new range and, finally, here's another.

At first glance, it didn't look like something I'd be particularly keen on - I'm a late convert to the charms of the humble tomato, thanks to a terrible incident from my school days (don't ask... it was horrific... just imagine your own least favourite school dinner memory, and empathise), and still tend to avoid them where I can, or just pretend they're not there when I can't.

But this is Birds Eye, long-standing purveyors of fine foodstuffs, so I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. And, let's face it, it's good to try something once in a while that you're reasonably sure you aren't going to like because, y'know, life can surprise you sometimes.

But enough cod-philosophy (see what I did there? Cod? Food-related pun? No? Oh well...), and on to the main event.

BtP Succulent Chicken Fillets with a Tomato & Basil Sauce. They come in packs of two, and they take 30 minutes to cook in the oven. It's basically a chicken fillet with a tomato and basil 'butter' squeezed on top, and the idea is that the 'butter' melts and cooks through the meat "to infuse flavour". I observed with the salmon product that it doesn't necessarily soak in quite the way it's supposed to, but that the end result is nevertheless excellent, and the same is true here... only more so.

The 'butter' essentially kept its exact shape from frozen to cooked, though some oils, etc were released into the foil bag. When serving, if you want the finished product to look anything like the photo on the packaging, you're going to have to spend some time spreading the sauce around.

Once you cut into the meat, it becomes very obvious that none of the butter/sauce has penetrated into the meat (despite these being skinless fillets), and I'd have to say that, were I to attempt something like this from scratch, I'd tend to score the meat several times to help the process along.

That said, the oils that were released from the 'butter' were soaked up readily enough once the meat was cut, and they certainly added to the flavour... but it's the sauce proper that really makes this product. Whichever kind of tomato they've used - the ingredients only specify "Tomato Powder" and "Tomato Paste" - it's been prepared exactly right for my tastebuds. It's a full, rich, sharp flavour balanced with a healthy dose of basil. I'm not entirely sure there's quite enough of the sauce, but that's just my preference. "Slather it all over, then add a bit more" is my philosophy.

In so many situations.

But I digress.

The chicken certainly lives up to its description as 'succulent' - moist without being waterlogged - and, despite this being a frozen product, the plain meat actually tasted pretty good, even without much assistance from the sauce.

As a break from the standard, predictable and, let's face it, dull 'potato and veg' accompaniment, I decided to serve this up with some Uncle Ben's Express rice, in the Savoury Chicken flavour. There was method in this madness, in that I knew the rice could be mixed in with whatever remained of the sauce, soaking it up and absorbing its flavour, and I'm pleased to report that the rice complemented the chicken perfectly.

And, as with the Salmon product, this has inspired me to perhaps try something along these lines from scratch... The ingredients list butter, basil, parsley, garlic, salt and pepper in the sauce, so I figure it wouldn't be too difficult to come up with something with tomato purée and garlic butter as a base...

Watch this space...

Birds Eye Chicken Chargrills - Mexican

When it comes to putting together an evening meal, I'd be the first to admit that, other than those times where I make something from scratch on the spur of the moment, I'm a little lacking in imagination. Most of the time, it'll be some kind of fish or chicken fillet, chips or potato waffles, and some representatives of the vegetable community.

On the upside, it's not as if there's any lack of variety when it comes to the 'fish or chicken fillet' component, with myriad coatings, seasonings and sauces available to spice things up a bit. And it was with this in mind that I decided to try out Birds Eye's Mexican chargrills...

It should be noted that where the packaging makes a big point of saying these things are "Made with 100% Chicken Breast", they are not chicken breast steaks. They are, basically, reclaimed meat... minced up and formed into the shape of a chicken breast, before being coated with a spicy sauce. It's important to point this out because I know there are those who object to this practice: yes, it's 'chicken breast meat', but it's what's left over when the real meat has been cut off and packaged. The good stuff is long gone.

Also, it means that the texture is... odd. It's very clearly shaped, minced meat, rather than complete muscles from a once-living thing, and some people will no doubt find that off-putting. When you cut into these things, they don't tear into stringy, fibrous meat, they just cut. It's light and fluffy, certainly, but do you want that property in your meat?

There again, there are those that might actually prefer their meat this way. I know I can be a bit fussy about meat if I find veins or weird fatty bits in it, and processing the meat removes all trace of anything recognisably arterial.

Ultimately, it may just come down to price, though. Birds Eye is a long-standing and trustworthy name, and it's rare that I've found their products to be anything but good value on balance.

So, how do they taste? Well, I've always found there's something different about processed chicken versus it's natural form. Possibly some kind of seasoning added to the mince, but it doesn't taste anything like the chicken one would cut from a roast bird. Not unpleasant, but also not the flavour I know as 'chicken'. The marinade is actually pretty fantastic - I'll often complain about so-called spicy sauces, marinades and glazes that just aren't. It's not so spicy you'll be reaching for a glass of water, but the flavour does go some way to distracting from the strange texture of the meat.

The packaging's serving suggestion - with a pile of tortilla chips and some salsa - is as good a suggestion as any, and I reckon this would work just as well in a bun as it would on a plate with appropriate accompaniments. Mixed veg was perhaps a little boring (I really need to expand my repertoire of plate-fillings), but it would certainly work with some kind of spicy rice - Mexican-style being the obvious suggestion - and, if you feel like completing the illusion of cheap, dirty Mexican food, a serving of refried beans.

Birds Eye themselves have serving suggestions featured on their Facebook page and, if the whole range is as quick and as easy to cook as this, it'd be worth giving them a try... as long as you have no objections to the way this meat is prepared.

Findus Chicken Fajita Wraps

OK, look, I know the expressed intention of this blog is to avoid microwave crap, but every so often you will discover microwave crap that's just too tempting to pass up... And, let's face it, when it comes to convenience food, and for the purpose of a blog called snacks & the single man, I've pretty much gotta try anything once, right?

Right?

Good. Glad we're on the same page.

Findus not only describe this 2-pack as "our delicious tortilla wraps filled with tender chicken, peppers and onions in a mild spicy tomato sauce" but they have a little flash on the front claiming this is "Britain's No.1 Mexican Meal". All that, and they reckon 2 minutes in the microwave to cook. Now that's really starting to sound tempting isn't in? Be honest, now.

Well, here's the thing... They're not really that good.

They're not terrible by any means, and as a cheap, very quick snack meal, they work pretty well... But even compared to the simplified, faux-Tex-Mex stuff you'd be served at a branch of Chiquito's, this is a bad attempt at Mexican food.

The tortilla is not half bad but, chances are, even if you follow the cooking instructions to the letter, part of at least one of them will have gone dry and crusty by the time the microwave goes ping. Other parts of it, naturally, will be a little soggy due to (a) the ice within the product and (b) fluid seepage from the filling. There's really no way to avoid this with a ready made, cooked-from-frozen product, so it's hardly worth considering. The biggest problem is that, by the time the insides have cooled enough to eat (and, yes, the packaging does bear the legend 'Caution: Filling will be hot'), much of the tortilla will be so soggy, it won't be very appetising.

The filling really does seem to be the big problem because, for all its fluid seepage, it's more of a gel than a sauce. I don't just mean that it's thick, I mean that it congeals quickly once liberated from the wrap, and ends up quite nasty. Looking at it, it just doesn't appear to be tomato-based to any significant degree - it's very yellow - and, while it's described as 'mild spicy', I personally would venture the opinion that it contains only the suggestion of mild spiciness. The flavour is good - if the tomato component is invisible, it's certainly noticeable in the flavour, as is the pepper... the onion, though, gets a little lost.

Again, comparing it (somewhat unfairly) to something you'd be served in a restaurant, it looks as though the pepper and onion component of the sauce were put through the blender, while a 'normal' tortilla would keep the fillings nice an chunky. The chicken comes in reasonably-sized chunks, but there's precious little of it within the wrap.

But, let's not forget that this is a cheap-and-cheerful, microwave snack. As far as they go, they're well-filled, to the point where some of the filling will inevitably burst out while cooking, but they are a little on the small side. They're sold two to a box, and the both of them were not quite enough for a truly satisfying lunchtime snack, but they'd certainly work well as part of a more extensive faux-Mexican feast, as long as one of the other components more ably fulfills the spiciness requirements.

Charlie Bigham's Breton Chicken

I can't say I was aware of the name Charlie Bigham before I happened to see this in a shop with a big '1/3 OFF' sticker on it. It's a pre-packaged centrepiece for a meal for two ("Perfect for two," it says, "Serve with a wink") described thusly:
"Fresh chicken breast in a handmade creamy mornay sauce with cheese leeks, lardons, Dijon mustard and fresh parsley. Perfect!"

It comes in two sachets - one, the chicken, bacon, leek, etc., the other being the creamy sauce. The first step is to stir-fry the meat and veg for about ten minutes, then the sauce is added, brought to the boil, and then simmered for a couple of minutes before serving. The packaging additionally suggests that this can be served with "new potatoes, mash, or even rice", but I must confess that I added nothing - it had been sitting in my fridge for a while, and I was eating alone, so I figured any additions would just increase wastage. It's a fairly large portion, after all.

It's certainly easy to cook, though... with the chicken and bacon pieces sizzling nicely as the leeks, etc. slowly brown. I did find the chicken had clubbed together in the packaging, and needed a lot of work to separate it all so it would cook properly, but it wasn't a great deal of hassle. Once the sauce went in, and I caught the scent of the meal to come, I was really counting the seconds till it was ready.

And the flavour fully lives up to the smell. It's a little sharp - perhaps the Cheddar was stronger than I'd normally choose, not being a fan of cheese, particularly - but it all comes together very well. The fact that it's stir-fried together, rather than baked together, or cooked entirely separately, with the sauce added at the end, serves to intermingle the flavours very well - the chicken picks up on the sauce, and the sauce picks up on just about everything else. The chicken remained tender, the leek managed to stay reasonably crisp and, while the bacon lardons suffered from the usual malaise - rather too much fat for my liking - it made a nice addition to the meal.

I did find the whole thing rather too rich, personally, but I suppose that's why you're not supposed to serve it without some addition, and I can see why potato of some form or another would be preferable. That said, plain rice would certainly work quite well. Either would help to soak up the sauce and, served as intended - as a meal for two - this would probably be fantastic. Eating it all on my own, I regret to say there was a fair bit of wastage... though it wasn't through want of trying to finish. Good stuff, but too much and too rich for my palate.

Must keep an eye out for more Bigham's stuff, though... The packaging is certainly unique, but perhaps a little over-the-top - almost selling a lifestyle rather than just the food.