Tom Rutledge HelloFresh Interview

Tom Rutledge HelloFresh Interview

Tired of the weekly supermarket shop? Bored of cooking the same meals every week or simply not having enough time to cook? Say hello to HelloFresh, (www.hellofresh.com.au) an online recipe and grocery delivery service with a twist, now available in Brisbane & Melbourne.

Bringing one of Europe's hottest food trends to Australian shores when it launched in Sydney earlier this year, HelloFresh provides subscribers with a weekly delivery of delicious recipes and beautifully fresh ingredients so they can easily prepare a value-for-money, nutritious meal in just 30 minutes or less. In other words, HelloFresh takes care of your meal planning and grocery shopping so you don't have to!

Perfect for time-poor singles, couples and families, and those simply looking for some culinary inspiration, HelloFresh brings the convenience back to cooking, providing a healthy alternative to takeaway and ready-made dinners and inserting some much needed variety into your weekly cooking repertoire.

The HelloFresh team, led by Founder and CEO and 2011 MasterChef contestant, Tom Rutledge, is truly passionate about food and healthy eating. They create and test each delicious recipe, ensuring that they can be made by even the most novice cook in just half an hour. Meanwhile, only the freshest ingredients of the highest quality are sourced from trusted local suppliers.

"While cooking is fun and relaxing, grocery shopping can often be the opposite," said Tom. "We wanted to introduce a service that makes cooking a quick, healthy meal with great ingredients much more accessible, whether you're a busy professional trying to keep in shape, or a mum concerned about your family's nutrition. "HelloFresh makes cooking simple, enjoyable and quick, allowing customers to skip the car-parks, carrying and queues by receiving a constantly evolving variety of recipes and fresh seasonal ingredients delivered straight to their door," he said.

In addition, HelloFresh offers true value-for-money. With meal plans for either three or five nights of the week and tailored for households of either two, four or six people, the average cost per person per meal works out at just under $10 including delivery. There are also no contracts; you can cancel your subscription at any time, pause it if you are going on holiday, or double the volume if the in-laws are coming to stay for the week.

Review: HelloFresh is great for busy families, providing inspiration & convenience for healthy meals that can be prepared quickly. HelloFresh has a great range of dinner ideas, plus you can choose which package suits your lifestyle. Ingredients wrapped, cooled and delivered to your door, using the freshest produce and portion prepared. HelloFresh makes a great present for new parents, Birthday's, Christmas or for anyone hard to buy for. HelloFresh is a gift of time!

HelloFresh is now available across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. It is suitable for all levels of cooking ability whether you're a gastronomic whiz or a culinary virgin! For more information, visit www.hellofresh.com.au

HelloFresh Prices:
Small Box (three meals per week):
Two people: $64
Four people: $119
Six people: $179

Large Box (five meals per week) :
Two people: $99
Four people: $189

Six people: $279

Interview with Tom Rutledge

Question: What inspired HelloFresh?

Tom Rutledge: HelloFresh was born out of the idea that cooking quick, healthy and exciting meals should be more accessible than it is for a lot of people. We provide the inspiration and do the legwork for those who are too busy to keep coming up with the ideas and ingredients for mid-week dinners.


Question: What's the idea behind HelloFresh and how does it work?

Tom Rutledge: HelloFresh is a new way to cook. Every week we'll send you amazing recipes and all the fresh ingredients you need to prepare them. We take care of your meal planning and even do the shopping for you. It's a revolution in your kitchen!

With HelloFresh you'll stop worrying about what to cook for dinner, you'll discover amazing food and you'll be able to provide those you love with a healthy and tasty diet. Say goodbye to fast food and bland, defrosted dinners. Say hello to home-cooked meals, fresh ingredients and mesmerizing flavour combinations.

Our recipes are created by our dedicated food team. We want you to have fun in the kitchen as well as eat healthy food. Our recipes will take you around the world with our wide variety of international cuisines that can each be prepared, cooked, and on the table in less than 30 minutes.



Question: How did your time on MasterChef prepare you for this business?

Tom Rutledge: Since MasterChef I have become very aware of how many people are passionate about good food. MasterChef was a wonderful bubble in which all you have to think about is cooking and food. There is a bit more to occupy my thoughts these days but it's good to have had that experience and the knowledge of other people's passion for food as inspiration for coming up with great recipes and running the business.


Question: What other ingredients do households need to have at home to create the recipes?

Tom Rutledge: Expected staples are:
Olive/veg oil

Salt
Pepper
Eggs
Flour
Milk
Fish Sauce
Soy sauce
Assorted vinegars (white, red wine, balsamic)
Chilli flakes
Tomato paste


Question: Do you allow households to customise their box to suit their likes, dislikes and allergies?

Tom Rutledge: Regarding likes and dislikes - not at this stage. We have a great value product, in part because we ship standard boxes. People are often a little sceptical of this before they start but end up loving it. They're surprised at what they're able to achieve with ingredients they would never have picked for themselves. We keep up a good variety so that everyone's favourites are on good rotation.

And, in terms of allergies, we do package everything separately in their precise quantities so there is ample opportunity to substitute or omit unlike prepared meal services.


Question: How long do the recipes take to prepare?

Tom Rutledge: Hooray for this - All meals are prepared in 30 mins or less!


Question: How do you collate each weeks recipes? Do you ensure there is a wide selection of different nutrients?

Tom Rutledge: We draw inspiration from a lot of areas - what's in season, chefs we love, and restaurants we eat at. People certainly can't tell the day of the week by the food on the table! We also of course try to incorporate a large selection of nutrients into the recipes, and I think we do it really well.

Question: Will we see HelloFresh launched Australia wide?

Tom Rutledge: One day for sure! At the moment we're in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, and are already looking at regional centres within easy reach of those cities.


Question: What feedback have you had so far?

Tom Rutledge: The feedback has been overwhelmingly really positive! By far the most rewarding are comments from people who say they're learning to cook things or use ingredients they never thought they would. I just love that people are having these creative adventures after work on a Tuesday say, rather than waiting for the weekend or worse, never - and that everyone can enjoy the satisfaction of bringing something they've prepared to a table full of family and friends.

HelloFresh Recipes

Pork Tenderloin with Oven-Baked Figs, Apple, and Rosemary
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 Pork fillet
2 Apple
4 Figs
2 sprigs Rosemary
180 g Green spinach
180 g Green beans
Salt
Pepper
Oil

Method
Preheat oven to 180�C. Heat a large frying pan over high heat with a little olive oil. Add the pork and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to a baking tray, add rosemary, and bake in oven for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel, core and chop the apple and quarter the figs. Add the fruit to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes each side or until golden. Transfer to the tray with the pork. Cook for 5-7 minutes for medium-well or until cooked to your liking. Cover and set aside for 2-3 minutes to rest.
Bring a pot of water to the boil as you top and tail the beans. Drop them into the boiling pot and then remove the beans as soon as it returns to the boil. Remove the pot from the heat and place the spinach in the hot water. Set aside for 2 minutes or until just wilted. Drain.
Thickly slice the pork across the grain. Divide the spinach among serving plates, top with pork, apple and figs. Serve with beans.

Spicy Eggplant, Cauliflower, and Chickpea Curry
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 tbs Vegetable oil
1 Eggplant
2 Onion
4 cloves Garlic
2 cm Piece of Ginger
1 tsp Ground coriander
2 tsp Ground cumin
1 tsp Ground tumeric
4 Tomatoes
350 gm Cauliflower
400 g Chickpeas
2/3 cup Greek style natural
320 gm Rice
Coriander to garnish

Method
To prepare the ingredients for cooking start off by dicing the eggplant into 3cm cubes. Finely dice the onion, cut the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the tomatoes. Smash the garlic with the flat side of your chefs knife and finely chop. Finely grate the fresh ginger and last but not least rinse and drain the chickpeas.
Fire up the stove and heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes until they slightly soften.
Throw in the ginger, cumin and turmeric cook for another minute until an aromatic fragrance develops. Then add the eggplant, stir well, and cook for a further minute. Add the cauliflower and tasty tomatoes and stir until well combined then add some water (about 100mL for every 2 people) and gently bring to the boil.
Once the curry has been brought to the boil, cover the large saucepan and reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes. Now's a good time to cook the rice.
Chuck the chickpeas next and finish off by cooking uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Gently stir in the natural yoghurt and season the curry with sea salt to taste. Serve up your curry, over some basmati rice, garnish with fresh coriander and enjoy your Indian inspired meal!

Blue Eye Cod en Papillote with Asian Greens
Serves 4

Ingredients
4 Fish fillets
4 tbs Coriander, chopped
1 limes zest
1 Fresh Chilli
4 Bok choi
2 tbs Ginger, grated
Black pepper
Salt
Oil.

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 190�C. En papillote (literally in parchment) is a flavour rich, healthy way of cooking. To start this recipe, you need to get everything ready. First, cut a piece of baking paper (or aluminium foil) for each fillet. It needs to be large enough to encase your fillet with a margin around the edges so you have enough paper to seal it shut - imagine you are wrapping a present. Then, prepare all the goodies that go with your fish: finely chop the coriander leaves (keep the stems), deseed and chop the chilli, and zest the lime.
Lightly oil one-side of the parchment. Lay down a few coriander stems place the fillet on top. Then sprinkle the fillet with the coriander, chilli, and lime zest. Give each parcel a good squeeze of lime and a good grind of black pepper.
To fold the parcel, bring the two long sides of your paper to the centre of the fillet and fold them over each other again and again until you have a tight, folded seam along the top of the fillet. Then tuck the ends of this seam under the fillet to seal the parcel. Place on a baking tray and bake for 7 - 8 minutes.
As the fish is cooking, steam or blanch the bok choi. When they're done, toss with a little vegetable oil and the grated fresh ginger.