“King prawn, chicken and chorizo paella, tomato & basil sauce with smoked Spanish paprika”
My Tesco occasionally has a few meals from The City Kitchen (this drives me crazy; either you stock it or you don’t, choose for cryin’ out loud!) so I grabbed this one as paella is rare. The variety of rice used is pretty close to correct (arborio) but it’s not chewy enough. The prawns are a bit tough (because they’re already cooked) but the chicken is tender. The big strips of roasted red pepper are nice. My main problem with this meal is the tomato and basil sauce. It’s too sweet and the basil is completely wrong. Where’s the saffron? A paella is supposed to have saffron. Nutritionally it’s okay though high in salt. It’s not bad, and I applaud The City Kitchen for their “Nothing Nasty Added” policy, but I won’t be having this particular meal again.
Price: €5.49
Serving: 400g
Sugar: 10.2g
Fat: 20g (4g sat.)
Salt: 2.8g
Fibre: 5.5g
Taste = 4 | Nutrition = 4 | Foodiness = 4 | Overall = 4
No saffron?! Unforgivable! I do like the “nothing nasty” commitment though.
Yeah, you’d think as often as people holiday in Spain around here they’d know what goes into a paella. Saffron is essential.
I have to disagree, this is one of the best paellas I have tried, and I’ve tried lots!!
I’v just had a City Kitchen Shredded Hoisin Duck Noodles. The spring onions were as tough as old boots. It was so salty, even though it only claims to have 0.8g salt equivalent, that I had to have a glass of water to get rid of the saltiness.
As ready meals go (I’m very fussy and perfer to cook myself) it was not the worst I have had. However, the saltiness has put me off trying any of their other meals. They might be healthy in a “balanced” diet – carbs, protein and veg kind of way, but I am sure that, even though I like salt, the ammount of salt is VERY unhealthy. It is so salty you can taste it – it’s not “hidden” salt.
Sorry City Kitchen, won’t be trying you again.
I just tried this and agree with Bill, however my rice was chewy. The sweet sauce was nice but did seem out of place. Also I loved the box it comes in as they are useful to have. I’ll be eating another of their meals I think, especially as they are 2 for £6.50.