For the first time ever, Gousto has introduced lobster to its recipe boxes, in the form of the brand’s ‘you’re my lobster’ Valentine’s dinner. This New York-inspired meal includes lobster tails cooked in garlic and chilli butter served over linguine alfredo with garlic ciabatta and a green salad.
The meal is part of Gousto’s ‘Valentine’s Day in NYC’ range, which also includes a flat-iron steak with stuffed baked potato, a spicy smashed wagyu burger, cheesy pink heart pasta, and a pork meatball marinara sub.
Preparation
I received the recipe box with everything I needed to make the lobster meal, with the exception of salt, pepper and butter. Gousto meal kits provide the ingredients in exact amounts, so no food goes to waste.
I was both excited and intimidated by the prospect of cooking lobster for the first time. The main challenge was cutting the shellfish in half – my kitchen scissors were broken, so I had to use a kitchen knife. Once I managed this, however, the rest of the process was straightforward.
The kit comes complete with step-by-step instructions, which mostly involved chopping garlic, shallots and parsley; baking the lobster, cherry tomatoes and ciabatta in the oven; making a pasta sauce and, of course, boiling the pasta. Nothing too complicated.
When cooking a Gousto recipe, I find it best to read through the instructions first, so you have a general idea of what you’ll need to do throughout the whole process. I also prefer to get all the food prepped ahead of time. The instructions were mostly clear but, depending on how you usually cook, the order that they suggest you complete the steps in might not feel intuitive to you.
Gousto estimates that this recipe will take between 40 and 60 minutes, and the whole process did in fact take me an hour, which felt reasonable for a meal like this. By following the instructions, I was able to get all the food ready at around the same time, so nothing was cold by the time I served it.
.png?quality=75&width=608&auto=webp%20608w)
Taste
Of course, everyone has different tastes when it comes to food but I enjoyed this meal a lot. The lobster was really tasty, if very messy to eat. The alfredo sauce was flavourful, though, as always, with these meal kits, I would personally double the amount of garlic.
The instructions recommend that you go easy on the chilli if you’re sensitive to spice, and I would agree with this. It can be tempting with these meal kits to do exactly as you’re told, but you don’t want to end up sweating through your romantic dinner because you can’t handle the heat.
Value for money
Lobster is famously expensive, so it’s likely no surprise that this Valentine’s meal is priced from around £20.78 per portion. In my opinion, this is fairly good value for money. However, it’s not possible to order a Gousto box with just one recipe, so what you’ll actually pay depends on what else you order.
A Gousto box for two people will cost you between £14 and £23.25 per portion using the discount code below. But this doesn’t include the surcharges that are added to certain meals, and this Valentine’s lobster meal carries a hefty £12.99 surcharge per person. That means that the cheapest you’ll be able to get a Gousto box for is £39.98 – this is including the Valentine’s lobster alfredo and one other meal of your choice.
Gousto’s Valentine’s meal is available to order now with deliveries starting on Saturday 7 February. Be sure to use the discount code below to get 50 per cent off (before surcharges).
