The first meal I made from Hello Fresh was the Tarragon Chicken & Wheat Berry Salad with Radishes, Dried Cherries & Almonds. This meal was pretty good but it was ultimately my least favorite of the three because of the textures in the chicken salad. The wheat berries were weird and the consistency was just not good to me.

The recipe cards are pretty cool. They weren’t as detailed as Plated or Blue Apron recipes but I didn’t find that to be a problem. I also like the serving and nutritional information at the top.

I started by putting the wheat berries on to boil. This looked really unappetizing.

Next, I put the chicken breasts on to boil.

This also looked extremely unappetizing. Nothing is more unattractive than a plain boiled chicken breast.

Then I prepped the lemon halves and zested them, chopped the scallions (white parts separated) and tarragon, and sliced the radishes.

And rinsed the arugula. Again, I found a lot of yellow arugula. I do not know if this is young or old.

While the chicken was cooling down, I made the dressing for the salad which consisted of mayo, scallion whites, tarragon, lemon juice and zest. It was actually a pretty good mixture and was pretty mild on the tarragon.

When the chicken cooled, I shredded it. Also–plain boiled chicken just smells so chickeny.

The fat and water leftover was so gross.

I mixed the wheat berries, dried cherries, radishes and chicken together.

Then I added the dressing. I will be honest, I took out the radishes. I am not a huge fan and since the textures were already weird for me, I did not need the crunch.

I let the chicken mixture sit for a bit because I foolishly believed that it would make the flavors come together. In the mean time I tossed the arugula with oil, salt and pepper. I put everything in tupperware because I took the leftovers to work the next day.

I put a base of lettuce, a layer of radishes (purely aesthetic), the chicken mixture and topped with the scallion greens and almonds. The salad itself was not bad. I added a bit more salt and pepper and picked out the radishes but the flavor was not bad. It really was the texture of the wheat berries and chicken and dried cherries. It just never felt smooth in my mouth. I was not a fan of the wheat berries.

Overall Ratings:

Ease of Recipe: 5 out of 5 stars. This dish was extremely easy. I only needed two pots, a knife, a zester, a colander and a cutting board. It only took about 25 minutes.

Precision of the Recipe: 4 out of 5 stars. I do not know why but the way the wheat berries cooked made me feel like I cooked them wrong. I just didn’t like them and did not feel they were needed.

Taste of Recipe: 3 out of 5 stars. The arugula and the chicken mixture were good. The chicken with just the mayo and lemon is something I could have eaten but the wheat berries were just uh.

Quality of Ingredients: 3 out of 5. The arugula was a little yellow. I do not know if it means it was young or old but those pieces were definitely bitter. Also–they gave me 4 little packets of mayo which just was not enough. I had some mayo and lemon at home so I was able to add more but even so, it was stretching it across the mixture. Imagine if I had added the radishes!

Final Verdict: Four out of Five stars.

Not the greatest meal but we were off to a good start!

 

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post is not sponsored by Hello Fresh and I did not receive anything in exchange for this review.