his year has certainly been like no other when it comes to food. With lockdowns forcing us back to the kitchen, we’ve discovered new recipes and experiences like never before and dozens of restaurants have pivoted their offering to create new cook-at-home kids and recipe boxes.
Amid all the madness however there’s still be time for new foodie businesses to launch, one of which is EKOOK Inc., an Italian-American company from Miami with the aim of delivering premium Italian artisan pasta kits around the world.
It launched in the UK at the end of September, bringing the simplicity of perfectly prepared Italian pasta dishes to your letterbox, with a menu of flavours traversing the country. Prices start at £5.90 for one portion and ordering is flexible with no minimum or maximum order. So whether you're in the mood for a solo dinner, or celebrating with your bubble, EKOOK can deliver.
We tried a trio of flavours and had high hopes. While there’s a certain other pasta delivery company that appears to dominate the market over here, EKOOK did seem to have a more intriguing selection of recipes.
The first we tried was the wild boar ravioli with truffle sauce and pecorino cheese, a deeply autumnal dish with rich game flavour perfectly complemented by the indulgent truffle sauce; it was utterly delicious. Each comes neatly portioned with everything needed for your dinner, instructions on how to create your dishes and the nice addition of a QR code in the box that, once scanned, takes you to the perfume playlist to accompany your dinner.
Next up we tried a dish from the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines of tagliatelle with Italian sausage, porcini sauce and parmesan cheese; intensely flavoured, with good chunks of meat and certainly a good portion size. We loved the taste of this one and were transported back to an autumnal weekend in Tuscany a few years back - every bite tasted so authentic. Last up was Gricia rigatoni with artichokes and pecorino cheese. Gricia, previously known as griscia because of its possible birthplace (Grisciano, a village near Amatrice, Lazio) is the “white” version (no tomato sauce) of amatriciana. This was our lest favourite of the trio, not that it was in any way bad, it just seemed to pack less of a flavour punch, but given the strong truffle and boar of out other dishes it was hardly surprising.
Each dish took mere minutes to prepare thanks to the step by step instructions and resulted in some seriously restaurant-quality pasta; Padella eat your heart out. With a whole menu still to try - next on the list is the pumpkin and sage ravioli with truffle butter and flaked almonds - we’ll certainly be going back for more.
From £5.90 per portion at www.ekook.com
