This Little Pig Went to Market

When it comes to shopping for groceries, I have to admit while I would love to wholly support local produce growers and stores, sometimes time gets the better of me and I have to rely on supermarkets. But nothing beats the freshness (and the satisfaction of buying local) of market goods.

So hearing about local business This Little Pig Went to Market - the brainchild of two lovely Perth sisters passionate about all things food (girls after my own heart) I had to admit I was definitely intrigued by a company that could find the time we often lack in our own schedules.

Pretty packaging

The concept of This Little Pig is quite simple but unique. They deliver to your door gourmet recipe meal kits that they design the menu for and pick up the ingredients from suppliers that include Frank Torres Butcher, Golden Choice Fruit & Vegetables and Kailis Brothers.

Having fresh food purchased and delivered on the same day is pretty fantastic and the pricing is actually quite reasonable! $65 for two people for two meals.

I was already planning at some point to try it out when to my surprise I received a delightful email from Jessica, one of the owners, inviting me to sample what they do. Naturally I accepted! All I had to do was let them know the weekend that suited me, and also give them my address. Pretty easy if you ask me.

Menu

Browsing their menu online I was pleased to see that the weekend I chose was one that had some great sounding dishes - chicken char sui with fresh mint and udon broth for one meal, and caramelised chorizo, onion and basil beef ravioli for the other. Mmmmm!

It was the perfect weekend to stay in and cook food for ourselves using This Little Pig's menu and ingredients. Cold, snuggly weather and my boy was at home after spending the day at St John's training instead of working his normal night shift. Yay!

The packaged fresh produce

Easy to understand packaging

Going through the process of following the menu provided for us on the Saturday night was easy. The format is concise and leaves no room for error. The ingredients for the first night's udon noodles are all labelled with a red dot to allow you to distinguish which ones you need to use for each dish.

The preparation time is fifteen minutes, mainly consisting of chopping the ingredients to go into the hearty broth. The cooking time is fifteen minutes too, which my boy Jeremy quickly takes over - he likes to be head chef when he's home in time to cook! I don't mind though since I usually am the one cooking and I know he loves food as much as I do.

Chicken char sui and udon

Chicken char sui and udon

Chicken char sui and udon

Forgive the multiple shots, I ended up getting carried away taking photos of my food before I tucked in to chow down. Isn't it so gorgeous!!

But how did it taste? Amazing. 

The udon broth they provided was lovely and balanced, the herbs and vegetables so fresh and crunchy. I'm actually not the biggest fan of udon noodles, but I'm back on the bandwagon now. The free range chicken was tender, moist and had soaked up all the great char sui marinade provided in the meal set. I could have happily eaten the chicken on it's own! My mouth was watering as we sizzled away in the frying pan.

When preparing the meals I had worried it wouldn't be enough food, but I was actually pleased to see that there was a little leftover in the end - even with my boy being a big eater. But don't worry, I didn't let it go to waste - I was back in there later that night polishing them off. 

So far, my first go with This Little Pig was pretty damn good. So what would the following night turn out like? 

Beef ravioli

Beef ravioli

Beef ravioli

Pasta is definitely a dish that can capture mine and Jeremy's hearts with ease - it's something we make quite often and we love to indulge in carby goodness with rich sauces or just plain delicious meats. This dish was right up our alley.

I particularly loved how Little Pig's version instructs you to take the chorizo out of the skin and fry up the meat inside. It gets so lovely and crisp, with the fats flowing out and flavouring the meat with the onion and garlic also present in the pan. Add that to the tomato sauce, spinach and bitey aged parmesan and you have a great Sunday night dish. 

All up, I have to say I was really quite impressed with what This Little Pig Went to Market is doing. Their menus are easy to follow, and the output is delicious; and the produce itself is top notch. For those who would love to learn to cook, and would also appreciate someone taking the hard work out of produce shopping, this is right up your alley. You can find out more on their website.

A big thank you to the lovely Jessica and Katherine for extending the offer for me to try out their wonderful service. I love cooking, and it was such a hassle-free and delicious way to continue my adoration of food.