Personal chefs are one of those luxuries that are most often reserved for busy families with healthy disposable incomes. Truthfully though, there are plenty of other households that would benefit from these types of services, if only they weren't so prohibitively expensive.

Enter Besos Foods. Ron Pereira & Christine Volden started the company with a goal to "make it easy for everyone to make fresh, healthy meals at home with the highest quality ingredients." Their co-founder (and chef) Jamie Lloyd has developed a menu of meal kits containing fully-prepped ingredients and an easy-to-follow instruction guide; most meals take about 20 minutes to prepare. San Francisco addresses can order as late as 2pm for same-day delivery, while East and North Bay residents can order via Planet Organics, or pick up their kits at the company's headquarters in SoMa.

Recently, we ordered the Wild Halibut with Parmesan Polenta, Summer Squash, Garlic Confit, Purslane and Sorrel Pesto kit.



The kit is packaged in a cute little box that is easy to carry on public transit, a nice touch. Once home, you unpack nicely organized basics--in this case, two halibut filets, two polenta squares, a baggie of squash and another of purslane, plus some little containers of slicked shallots, confited garlic, sorrel pesto and homemade chicken stock. Most ingredients are organic and locally sourced.



Instructions advise you to pat the fish dry and, after seasoning with salt & pepper, searing until golden brown on both sides. Meanwhile, the polenta went into a non-stick pan and into a 400 degree oven for 15 or so minutes while I worked on the rest of the meal.

I sauteed the shallots in a bit of olive oil, then added the squash and deglazed the pan with the provided stock (which, incidentally, was absolutely amazing. I'd buy this stuff by the gallon, and never make stock again, if I could). After a couple of minutes, in went the purslane and garlic and about a minute later, I was ready to plate.

We thought the dish was well-balanced and the flavors complementary. All the ingredients were perfectly fresh, and it was nice to know that everything was locally sourced.

For busy households, singletons looking to impress a date, and people just learning to cook, Besos' meal kits are a great resource. But at $35-43 per kit for 2, they are a bit on the pricey side for regular use; however, the company has just released a series of new "Easy Kits" which run about $25, and might be a little more economical for most people.

Gift certificates are available, and we are planning to order one for a bachelor friend and another for our friends who are new parents.

For more pictures of the kit components, click here