Weekend is upon us and that’s awesome! If you’re anything like me, the following scenario might sound familiar: You’re on your way home from work, and involuntarily, one of the first things to pop into your head is “what should I make for dinner?” Even after a couple minutes’ consideration, no brilliant idea has formed yet. You had lasagna two days ago. Not chicken again. That amazing chili takes too long to make. It’s been a long day at work, and really, you don’t feel like thinking, planning, shopping, preparing, cooking… but you still prefer a nice, home-cooked meal, and you actually enjoy cooking and making food. Difficult. You don’t just want to buy a frozen pizza, or order Chinese. What to do?
I was in such a situation the other day, after I had dropped of my laptop at the repair store (yeah, that was great… my laptop broke!). And then I walked by Grab’n’Cook on Nordre Frihavnsgade, near Trianglen in Østerbro. I had passed the store before and thought, “that’s such a cool concept, I’ll try that one day!” Turns out, that day came sooner than expected, and so I found myself standing in front of their window, boyfriend on the phone, discussing the options. The concept is simple but - in my eyes - genius: You buy a bag of ingredients, which comes with a recipe, to prepare a delicious meal at home. The recipes are designed to take a short time to prepare, and the ingredients are all organic. The dishes are in line with a current Danish supertrend: “hverdagsgourmet”, everyday gourmet food, meaning a type of food you might not immediately think about when planning your dinner, but still not so fancy that it can’t be enjoyed on a weeknight. As an example, they offered a risotto with apples and bacon, a lamb chili con carne, and the one we chose, a malt dough pizza with onions, potatoes, bacon and brie. The prices vary, I paid 75 DKK for the dish for two, but they offer single portions for 50-65 DKK or family bags for around 135 DKK. I grabbed the bag and, excited, headed home.
All in all, the recipe estimated the dish to be done in 30min, of which 12min were baking time. The instructions were easy to follow and, with the dough already being prepared, very simple. We just had to cut the potatoes, onions and bacon…
… roll out the dough (which proved a bit difficult, as it was quite “elastic”!)…
… and put everything on the pizza! I added the brie to my section (as the boyfriend hates cheese, so weird but good for me!), and we topped everything off with fresh thyme (there was a little twig in the bag, totally adorable), before popping the baby into the oven.
When we took it out, the dough had gotten nice and crunchy, the onions were glazed and the bacon crispy, and on my part, the brie had melted into pure deliciousness.
To serve, we topped our slices off with the mixed salad and a bit of the creamy mustard dressing that were also part of the package. And then we dug in!
The pizza was absolutely delicious, and the dough was fantastic as well, I’ve never had a malt pizza dough before! The soft, creamy brie and salty, crunchy bacon mixed really well, and the salad on top gave some nice freshness to the mix. The pizza was definitely enough for two persons (I ate about a third and my boyfriend two thirds). I would love to eat it again!
For dessert, I had bought two little chocolate covered bars at the same store, one with figs and the other one with dates and coconut, and those were really delicious as well (though the boyfriend wasn’t a huge fan, so I got to eat most of both, yay!).
In summary, I think Grab’n’Cook is a great concept. By packaging just as much as you’ll need to prepare the recipe, you’re sure to avoid throwing away unused food, and they can focus on great organic produce and ingredients for affordable prices. Their recipe selection is also very appealing, I already picked out three or four of their dishes I’d like to try next. I love that it gives you the good feeling of a home cooked meal and the fun of preparing food, but takes away the planning, idea-finding and shopping, which I love sometimes, but can be a hassle on other days. If you live in Copenhagen, I’d definitely recommend you try them at some point!
Grab’n’Cook, Nordre Frihavnsgade 22, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, near Trianglen - website - Facebook
Laura says
I went by there today and got the pasta! So yummy!!
Laura says
I really want to try that! It sounded delicious! :)
Silvia says
Thanks, nice post and very brilliant idea! Are the recipes written in English too?
Laura says
I think they currently only have the recipes in Danish. But they are very nice in the shop, so maybe they’ll pin you down the most important parts! :)
Silvia says
Thank you, Laura! :)