Paul and I recently began a vegetarian adventure with Blue Apron. Last Sunday night, we enjoyed Panko-Crusted Katsu-Style Eggplant with Stir-Fried Greens and Sweet Peppers. The tonkatsu sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil over the oven-crisped eggplant and stir fried veggies tasted delicious. While the first recipe turned out well, we worried our dinners might not fare well. 

Blue Apron sent bruised green beans for the above dish which required discard or significant trimming. A bulb of garlic looked black with rot on one side. The order came up short a box of cilantro. 

I most looked forward to trying the Skillet Vegetable Chili of the three received meals this week because the thought of drop biscuits baked atop a pan of chili presented a new twist for me. But my expectations proved too grand. 

The pre-packaged Mexican Spice Blend of ancho chile pepper, smoked paprika, garlic powder, ground cumin, and dried Mexican oregano mixed with fresh cherry tomatoes produced a joyless bean stew devoid of heat or flavor. Unless fresh tomatoes slowly cook for hours, canned tomatoes taste better in chili. 

The honey called for in the recipe for the cheddar and cornmeal drop biscuits and baked into an interconnected cornbread brick lattice made a dry, saccharine crust. I could hear a sucking sound as the chili and biscuits absorbed the watered down sour cream. The cilantro, missing in this week’s shipment, might have made this failure pretty but no more edible. 

If you received this recipe in a recent shipment from Blue Apron, make haste to re-purpose the fresh ingredients before they spoil or add them to a compost heap.

Next up is the Summer Vegetable Paella with that ugly bulb of garlic. Maybe. 

Versions of the above reviews first appeared on Facebook.