Amanda Schoppe spooned a spinach, basil, arugula Brazil nut pesto over zucchini noodles and added turkey meatballs before portioning them into containers Monday evening. It was an effort in controlled, yet tasty, chaos.
Schoppe, one half of the team behind the Brooklyn-based meal delivery service Market. Kitchen. Table., was putting the finishing touches on a dinner, set to go out Tuesday morning.
Schoppe and her partner, Willy Anderson, first started M.K.T. last year, and opened up their Carroll Gardens cafe in September.
“We’re not trying to push any diets or any jargon toward people, it’s more like, look at all these awesome things we’re serving for this week and it’s interesting, fun, restaurant-quality stuff that also you just feel really good when you eat it,” Schoppe said, adding: “We want people to not think about food in a diet way.”
They always use fresh ingredients — many from the local farmers markets — and plan healthy menus, but this week they kicked off their preholiday detox, four weeks of health-minded meals filled with detoxifying ingredients
“We’re just boosting that,” Anderson said, including ingredients like “lemon, because lemon is really detoxifying, ginger … it’s just making them a little more present to people’s palates.”
The Brazil nuts in the pesto were chosen for a reason: they have an essential mineral that your body needs but can’t produce, Schoppe said. They focused on ingredients with added health benefits like turmeric, dandelion greens and buckwheat.
“Everyone gets so excited for the holidays, but with the holidays comes binging on candy, everything that goes into Thanksgiving (which is like five pounds of butter usually), the stress of your family,” Anderson said. “If you learn how and what to eat and quantities and the things that make you feel good when you eat them, you will be less likely to abandon all of that once the holiday season comes.”
On Sunday the pair hit the Carroll Gardens Greenmarket, making their way from stall to stall and getting excited when they found certain ingredients, bouncing recipe ideas off each other. The kohlrabi would be great in a number of dishes, the fresh lemongrass would work perfectly in a Thai green curry they were planning for the week (and it smelled incredible), Brussels sprouts would make a perfect raw salad.
“It’s better for me than clothes shopping, I love going to the farmers market,” Anderson said.
They deliver to 20 different people on Tuesday’s (amNewYork paid for and tried a week of meals recently) sending three full days of meals, including a snack and dessert (think decadent chocolate avocado truffles) for $200. Flexibility is built in.
Anderson said clients aren’t “tied to your refrigerator or your home,” with three days of meals and can make those dinner plans or go away on the weekends.
They both bring different things to the table: Schoppe who came to the business as a health coach and personal trainer and spent 10 years as a Rockette, and Anderson has her background as a chef and caterer. They would always talk about food when Anderson would take Schoppe’s training classes, and soon figured out they could make it a business. A year later, the delivery service was born.
“The biggest thing that I found with clients was nobody really knowing what to eat,” Schoppe said. “The food that we both like and enjoy is this type of really just wholesome, nutrient, real food. And we both like sweets … it’s just having a good balance but understanding how your body feels when you’re eating healthfully.”
Anderson said the beauty of their plan is their clients aren’t “sacrificing flavor, but you also don’t have to think about how many calories you’re eating, whether or not it’s good for you.”
Sign up at marketkitchentable.com for the preholiday detox. The plan can accommodate vegan, vegetarian, dairy free, and gluten free restrictions. Sign up by Saturday for a Tuesday delivery.
