Ruth Hansom was the first female winner of Young National Chef of the Year in 2017, but I only became aware of Ruth when she appeared on the BBC’s Great British Menu.  I’m told Ruth is currently the head chef at Princess of Shoreditch, in London.  It was whilst browsing Finish & Feast’s website that I discovered Ruth and F&F were doing make-away boxes, so I ordered one for a quite competitive £80 for two.

On the scheduled delivery day I was phoned by Finish & Feast to advise me their couriers had made an error, and my box wouldn’t be delivered until the next day. I appreciated the customer service effort of making a personal call, and accepted the situation.  The call was followed up with an email giving me a 20% discount on my next order; again the sort of customer service I appreciate and value.

First off I warmed what was called “soda bread” in the oven for 5 minutes. As a Northern Irishman, I would call the bread “wheaten” rather than “soda”, but whatever it’s name it was really lovely. But chef Ruth hadn’t included any butter, so we used our own. 8/10

The bread was served with “Treacle cured sea trout, gherkin ketchup, cucumber & fennel” which didn’t require any cooking.  I liked the trout, and even though I couldn’t taste treacle, this cured fish was better in taste and texture than smoked trout.  The cucumber and fennel salad added acidity and freshness, and I thought the gherkin ketchup was wonderful. This was a very good, light and fresh starter. 9/10

For the main course of “braised lamb, mint gnocchi, Jerusalem artichoke, pickled mushroom, lamb jus” I heated the lamb ‘sous vide’ for 10 minutes (aka boil in the bag!) before finishing it off in a pan.  Meanwhile I coloured 6 squares of minted gnocchi and some Jerusalem artichoke slices in a pan, adding broccoli and butter for the last few minutes. But when finishing the rolled lamb it lost its shape somewhat, so my plating wasn’t as neat as it should have been, and it all looked more like a hearty Sunday lunch than a restaurant meal. But the flavours sang out loud and clear: The lamb was soft and tender, the gnocchi were very good, the artichokes and broccoli were al dente, and the lamb jus was utterly delicious.  Quarters of pickled mushrooms added a welcome but subtle acidity (maybe more acid could have been better?), making this a very well balanced dish. 9/10

Dessert was “Chocolate nemesis cake, creme fraiche, caramelised orange”. As with the starter, there wasn’t any heating/finishing to do; I just cut a generous piece of nemesis cake in two, dusted with icing sugar (which wasn’t provided), added caramelised orange segments and a quenelle of creme fraiche on the side.  The cake was very good; chocolatey, crisp on the outside with soft fudgeyness inside. The oranges and cream added great flavour and sharpness, making this another well-balanced dish bursting with flavour. 9/10

This make-away box from Ruth Hansom was very easy to serve up, hearty and delicious. With an overall score of 9/10 it ranks higher than some more expensive make-aways from more well-known chefs. Very good!