Until recently, a large pepperoni pizza with bacon and an order of wings from Imo’s was the closest my wife and I have come to a delivered meal kit. Then we tried Vero Pizza & Pasta, our first meal delivery experience involving more than reheated Imo’s in the oven.
Katie Lee Collier of Katie’s Pizza & Pasta Osteria launched Vero last June. The kits come with everything needed to make a meal (minus kosher salt). Each item is individually packaged and fresh, with an insulated and chilled box to help preserve perishable items. The dishes are accompanied by easy-to-follow recipe sheets, which are clearly numbered and include photos for each step. (As a visual learner, I found this particularly helpful.) And for the kids, there are paper chef hats and coloring pages.
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Our kit: the limited-time, seasonal morel mushroom lasagnotte and strawberry-and Marcoot mozzarella salad. The fresh pasta was an in-home revelation—it alone could be a great delivery option, as I found myself wanting to try it with other recipes. The morels were so good that my wife, who typically avoids mushrooms, finished them off. The only downside was the amount of butter and olive oil used for cooking, which was far too much for our taste (but could easily be remedied in the future). Otherwise, the pasta was a fantastic blend of flavors.
The salad included a fresh mix of basil, mozzarella, and strawberries. It was topped with lemon juice, lemon zest, and balsamic vinaigrette. (Unfortunately, I overdid it with the lemon zest for photo purposes.) It was a light, refreshing salad that made me want to find every shred of basil and mozzarella—and made me wonder why I’ve relied so much on salad dressings in the past.
The meal kit cut prep time in half, and the cooking process flowed smoothly. Not being a meal kit subscriber, I assume that adding a pizza or pasta night from Vero could be a nice addition to one’s diet. There was also an excitement to cooking the food, as if learning from a great chef who’d hand-selected each ingredient and dictated every step. For those unfamiliar with cooking, it would serve as a great first step toward being more comfortable in the kitchen. And for busy St. Louisans, it’s a tasty timesaver.
At the end of the night, my wife and I were already considering how the pizza kit would fare. Our guess: much better than that reheated pizza.
Kevin A. Roberts is SLM’s staff photographer.
