Everybody now knows that San Marzano Tomatoes are considered the ultimate canned tomatoes to make an Italian dish. Trader Joe’s came out with these that are “Marzanino tomatoes” (little Marzano) which I guess are in the same family but smaller than the standard San Marzano and possibly sweeter. The can has the small tomatoes in juice, cooked and peeled and ready to use in a dish. I usually get down and dirty and just dump them into a bowl and crush them up with my fingers to prep them for cooking in a sauce or dish.
These tomatoes were very tasty and a little sweet. They are great for making any tomato sauce or dish that calls for tomatoes, including pizza. I did make pizza using these as my fresh sauce. After crushing the tomatoes with my fingers, I used this as my fresh tomato sauce for my own version of a pizza Margherita, with fresh basil and mozzarella. The finished pizza came out terrific*. “Product of Italy” $2.99 a can.
*(Pizza dough – I made my own from scratch but if that’s too much for you, just buy the bag of fresh pizza dough from TJ’s ($1.49) – or you can use the ready to bake rectangular pizza crust there in the breads section.
Seen at Trader Joe’s New Products section (Bway & 72nd St./NYC)
MUTTI TOMATO PUREE “SUL CAMPO”. In a nice glass jar. The sign says, “this is a robust tomato purée made with Rossoro tomatoes. Perfect for shaksuka, curry, marinara sauce and more….”
“Sul Campo” basically means “from the farm”. Meaning they make this right at the fields where the tomatoes are harvested to be a fresh tasting as possible. Unlike us in the US, Italians don’t really buy prepared tomato sauces in a jar. Typically most Italians open up a jar of a tomato purée or “passata” (they bought unless the family put up jars on their own from their tomatos). First you put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add some garlic, maybe some onion, and pour in the “passata”. Let that simmer for maybe 15 minutes and Voila! They have a fresh homemade tomato sauce in minutes, practically as easy as opening a jar of sauce. But this fresh sauce really tastes homemade.
Of course we can do the same. So when I just saw this I was intrigued enough to do an internet search, as in the past I bought the brand “POMI”, another big Italian brands purée that is well distributed in the US. I wasn’t familiar with this brand, MUTTI. In Itally its as well known as POMI. I’ve now seen MUTTI ads here so they are making a push into the American market.
Now the most interesting thing with this one is this purée is even more special than the regular tomato puree from Italy from Pomi or Mutti. This one says Sul Campo, a special “limited edition” version of Mutti’s regular passata. “From the field (farm)”. Its processed right at the harvest and Mutti labels this limited edition puree as “tasting like tomatoes just picked off the vine”.
This jar was $3.99 for about 20 ounces. PS – I’ve not tried it yet but intend to review it in future. It looks/sounds good! You can read more on MUTTI’s website below.
UPDATE: I went back and couldn’t find any. It seems to be all gone! Oh well. I hope there’s more of this coming someday. Maybe next summer?
NEW PRODUCT section. Five different shaped pastas. Trader Joe’s organic pasta is really good quality pastas and this new one looks like a good addition to the lineup. One thing that came to mind looking at these shapes was it could be good for a cold summer pasta salad. $1.99 for 1 lb bag. PS- Her first summer pasta dish looks like it uses a very similar mix of these shapes.
One of my go-to items for an inexpensive and easy dinner is Trader Joe’s Organic Polenta, which I’ve mentioned before. Still it’s worth mentioning again as this is one of their inexpensive items, even one of the few products that is the same price as it has been in the past for years (shh.. I’m afraid if TJ’s see this they may raise the price)
A package of the Organic Polenta ($1.99) can make a meal for two, say with some sauce plus maybe some salad and bread. It’s easy to prepare too. You just slice up the polenta and then bake, broil or sauté it until it’s a little crispy and browned (do NOT microwave it thought they say that’s one way).
When it’s nice and crispy, just top it with your favorite sauce and grate a little cheese on top. If you want a change from a tomato sauce, a good thing to match the polenta with would be TJ’s frozen Mushroom Medley ($4) or sauté some mushrooms ($2.29).
Trader Joe’s Organic Polenta is shelf stable and can safely stay for a couple of months in your pantry, just like pasta. I always have a package of the polenta on hand and suggest you do too!
Want to spend less than $1.99? Well fortunately you can still buy some bags of pasta at Trader Joe’s for just 99 cents! Plus they have some sauces for $1.99.
This is a new nice pasta shape at Trader Joe’s. It super!
I really liked this pasta which is kind of a ruffled edged, ribbony flat wide noodle. Think of a mini lasagna noodle. Those ruffled edges holds sauces well. Malfada Corta pasta is a nice hardy noodle and will be great with almost any sauce you can think of. Its Organic and bronze die cut semolina pasta.
I’ve made this with a number of different sauces. One dish was this pasta with a homemade ragu bolognese-style sauce. Yummy. We both really liked the combo. On another occasion I made a tuna pasta with a bechamel sauce mixed with tuna and peas. That combo was was Excellent as well. Really, this pasta is super.
TIP: It has a recommended cooking time of 8-9 minutes. I was making my pasta Italian style, meaning under-cooking it a bit then fishing it out of the water and putting it in a pan to cook with some sauce till its done (al dente). So I fished out the pasta before it was al dente, a minute or two under than so maybe at about the 6 minute mark (2 minutes under the recommended 8). The noodles went into a pan with a 1/2 ladle of the pasta cooking water (great “secret” ingredient in restaurants) and I then added about 1 ladle of my sauce. I cooked that mixing it all the time for maybe 90 seconds, and adding another ladle of sauce. Turned off, then the pasta got plated. I put some additional sauce on top as well as some fresh grated Parmesan. This “Italian pasta cooking method” imbues the pasta with the sauce so it’s way better than just ladling a sauce on top of dry pasta which is unfortunately how many people in the U.S. make pasta. Doing this horrifies Italians!
I would gladly buy this again. I think the Malfada would be a great match for TJ’s frozen MUSHROOM MEDLEY. Try that combo.
Trader Giotto’s CHICKEN PICCATA – Seasoned, breaded boneless chicken breasts with a lemon and caper sauce
“Our Chicken Picatta is made for us using a special family recipe. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are seasoned and breaded then baked in the oven until crispy. We then add a buttery, lemon and caper sauce to complete the dish. A timeless Italian American classic that tastes like you made it from scratch” (-On the package)
This is actually pretty good. So if you want a tasty dinner that all you have to do is Heat & Eat, Trader Joe’s CHICKEN PICATTA with Lemon Caper Sauce dish could do the trick. Especially say on a hot day when you don’t want to cook? Or make that any day you don’t want to cook.
My upstairs neighbor actually wanted to check out this Heat and Eat dish to see if it was worth it. She invited my wife and myself to dinner for a review and tasting.
So how was it? Well I was at bit surprised at how good the dish actually tasted. In fact, all three of us who tried it all said it was quite tasty, though we all thought there were a few things that could be improved. Needs way more capers to start with.
My neighbor who loves capers almost as much as I do, wanted more capers. Since we had them in the fridge, we tossed in a tablespoon of capers in the sauce, and that did make it better. Capers are the whole point for me; This needs capers added. So get a jar if you don’t have any. We also thought some fresh lemon would improve it so we added a squeeze of lemon juice. Those simple things really improved the whole dish and made it taste almost homemade.
If you don’t have a jar of capers in the fridge (I do) then at least give this a squeeze of a quarter of a lemon, as that will really improve the sauce to make it taste almost homemade. If you add a tablespoon of butter that would not be amiss either!
To cook the dish, we followed Trader Joe’s “recommended method” instructions to bake it in the oven. I really recommend baking this over nuking it. It will be best baked in the oven, as in the oven the chicken will crisp up a bit. PLUS when you add the sauce at the very end, it will reduce a little and get a little browned and bubbly, both of which adds flavor. So baking is best and worth any little extra effort.
The chicken breasts were actually tender and juicy, and of course the sauce helps a lot with this as you bake it with sauce so they were moist. The included lemon caper sauce was tasty, however they don’t give us enough capers IMO. If you add capers, lemon juice and a pat of butter it will really make this dish taste almost like you made it yourself.
RECOMMENDED HEATING INSTRUCTIONS (OVEN): Preheat oven to 375. Set sauce packet aside. Remove packaging and place chicken pieces on a rimmed baking sheet or pan. Place in oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until hot. Remove from oven and pour sauce over chicken. Return to oven for about 3 minutes or until sauce looks bubbly and slightly browned. Optional: add a few tablespoons of capers, a tablespoon of butter and squeeze a quarter of a lemon over your dish. To serve restaurant style you can plate with thin slices of lemon on top.
SERVING: Plate the chicken with sauce. If you add some slices of lemon on top it will look like it came from a restaurant.
PORTION SIZE: The box states “Serves 3”. Ha! Who are they kidding. Maybe they mean serves 3 kids? No way this “serves three” adults. They do include a generous amount of sauce but there is not that much chicken. In the package we got, there were 2 large pieces of chicken plus 2 small pieces. Realistically I say this “serves 2“.
I did manage to stretch this to serve three adults. I made sides to go with this.
I made a little quick easy pasta with zucchini & garlic for a side to have enough food to feed three for dinner. PS pasta goes perfectly with this, especially orzo I would suggest for that sauce.
So realistically this package will make 2 portions for dinner. Figure 3 portions which you could stretch by adding sides. Serve this with some rice or orzo, potatoes or a pasta and maybe a salad and/or a veg. Some nice crusty bread for mopping up that lemon caper sauce?
So in short we thought that Trader Joe’s Chicken Piccata with Lemon Caper sauce was good, and improved if you add some more capers to it. Find this in the refrigerated section with other prepared dishes. It’s $8.99 (16 oz).
I would buy this again.
Addendum: Many months later. I wanted to try my hand at making this dish myself so I did it. Here’s a shot of my own home made CHICKEN PICCATTA from scratch. Fantastic and not terribly hard to make. Recipe I used as a guide line follows (I did not use heavy cream as per the recipe, I made a roux with some home made chicken stock) And added a TON of capers!
This flavor is the one I’m now seeing of TJ’s yummy “bread cheese“. This “pizza seasoned bread cheese” is quite good, perhaps dangerously good!
Just grilling it with some halved cherry tomatoes basically I came up with kind of a “deconstructed pizza” when I served the soft warm cheese with grilled cherry tomatoes and toasted bread. A drizzle of EVOO and a sprig of fresh basil completed the picture. What’s not to like? All the flavor and fun of pizza in five minutes. Eat it while it’s still gooey and melt-y. I would say a package made roughly two portions. I’d go with “sauté” and not microwave as grilling it will brown it more and so be better that way. This Pizza Bread cheese version is now $1.99 (!) Used to be over $4.
update: unfortunately at present this is either unavailable or possibly even discontinued (?) As a substitute the Organic Fusilliis also quite good
“Made in small, handmade batches with high quality organic durum wheat semolima. Thick, textured noodles, that cook up perfectly al dente and pair beautifully with pesto”
“It starts with the Italian pasta maker sourcing high quality, organic, and local durum wheat semolina, then going the extra mile to mill the flour themselves. High quality tools are equally essential—bronze-coated shaping disks are used to produce thick, textured noodles that deliver a perfectly al dente texture, crucial to support the heftiness of your sauce while maintaining a delicate chew. The Trofie pasta shape originates from Liguria, the northwest coastal region of Italy, famous for pesto. You could say pesto is Trofie’s soul-sauce, a match made in pasta-eating heaven. But limiting Trofie to a single sauce would be a mistake. These short, twisted noodles pair well with a variety of sauces, in both hot and cold applications.”
NEW TRADER JOE’S ITEM – Organic Trofie Pasta: I saw this sign and grabbed a package of this pasta from the display as I’m familiar with “Trofie”, a pasta shape we don’t see very often in the U.S but is popular in Italy. It’s from Liguria. “Trofie”is a shape that is kind of a little twisted noodle so it has a lot of nooks and crannies to hold sauces. Trader Joe’s pasta is a very high quality organic pasta which as can you see in the pictures has a lot of rough cut edges, a clear sign it was made using bronze dies. I really liked this pasta. I used it to make a dish I came up with with spinach, garlic and feta cheese, a kind of Greek / Italian dish which turned out really yummy. This is great stuff, a very high quality pasta for a really good price. The 1 lb. package sells for $1.99. I would buy this again. This is my new favorite pasta! I suggest if you see it, Grab it! If you want to learn about Trofie check out some of these videos on YouTube….
Trader Joe’s SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with Butter & Sage (Product of Italy)
Trader Joe’s frozen “SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with butter and sage” looked interesting enough for me to review. It even says “Product of Italy”.
These gnocchi seem quite popular and get a fair amount of interest here. To do the review, three of us tasted it as one part of a dinner we put together.
All three of us thought this was tasty, however we all found it a little different than what we were expecting. The main thing was all of us said the same thing to start with. “Are these sweet potato?” Other than the fact these have an orange color, if it didn’t say sweet potato, none of us could have told you these were Sweet Potato Gnocchi as opposed to a regular (potato) gnocchi.
Butter and sage is a classic sauce and the sauce here was tasty. We were a bit surprised at how much sauce comes in this, so just know the dish is pretty saucy, which may not be a bad thing. The flavor of the sauce was tasty, nice and buttery with a hint of sage. Since there is so much sauce, be sure to have something to mop it all up with like some good crusty bread, as we did.
Again our main comment was if you can tell these are “sweet potato” vs. the regular gnocchi. The first 3 ingredients listed in this are: sweet potato, wheat flour and potatoes, so yes they do have regular potatoes in it.
It takes about 3-6 minutes, Microwave or Stove Top to cook. I cooked this on the stove top in a pan (adding 2 tbls water or broth and cover) stirring occasionally.
RECIPE IDEAS :
You can easily turn this into a more substantial meal by adding something. For example, add your favorite Chicken Sausages (or meatballs. Maybe some veggies… They will match well with the dish. Brown some of Trader Joe’s chicken sausages – or chicken meatballs – and mix those in when the gnocchi are ready. I think Shrimp would work well too. Vegetarians might add the vegetarian sausage of their choice.
Adding VEGGIES. You could add some cooked or frozen vegetables. Frozen French green beans work well, or frozen peas. Or fresh or frozen spinach. You could just toss in a generous handful of veg for some extra taste and a little veggie protein and cook those along with the sauce.
MAKE THIS A MEAL: Add some salad and bread along with this and you can have a nice substantial dinner with this gnocchi. And maybe the additions mentioned above if you want to beef it up even more.
While I liked these I like other gnocchi choices available at Trader Joe’s. Boiled soft gnocchi such as this dish are fine, however I am quite partial to pan fried gnocchi which you make by sautéeing the gnocchi with a little olive oil and butter until they get golden brown – then add sauce at the end.
These sweet potato one in sauce were about $3.69. I like them and give them a good if not great review mainly as as they don’t stand out as being “sweet potato” gnocchi but still we thought these were tasty.
I love gnocchi when they are fried up and get a little bit of a delicious texture on the outside which you can’t get with prepared, sauced frozen ones, like this dish.
Frequently I make Trader Joe’s (shelf stable) potato gnocchi–a productI just love and buy all the time(and its cheaper, just $1.99 $2.29). I cook those up so they get a golden brown on the outside, and add my own sauce. In this case, I might add my own butter, sage and grated cheese and a squeeze of lemon to come up with a dish a bit like this one, but with a bit of a crispier texture, and frankly I don’t need so much sauce.
My go to gnocchi, as mentioned, are the packages of Trader Joe’s shelf stable potato gnocchi on the shelves along with their pastas. Those gnocchi are not only cheaper but you can get those crispy by frying/baking/air frying them up to brown them.
Trust me, try making crispy gnocchi at least once. So good that way. So honestly I would say try out both kinds, this dish, and later make your own dish, with TJ’s regular potato gnocchi pan fried up crispy (and add butter and some sage and cheese for a sauce).
Here’s a link on “How to fry gnocchi, and why you should want to!)
“Pappardelle is a hearty noodle with many uses. Traditionally this hearty noodle is served with high-flavor chunky sauces made from game or pork… We like it with a robust Bolognese. It’s perfect for soaking up the flavorful juices of a pot roast and an ideal noodle for soups…”
Trader Joe’s Pappardelle noodles are good, hearty Italian egg noodles. These are especially perfect with robust chunky sauces, like a ragu Bolognese. A bag is $1.99 (8 oz). Here’s what I learned from making these a few times. To bring out the best of these noodles I suggest you don’t just cook them and put them on a plate and top with sauce. If you are just serving these with butter and cheese that’s OK to do. But if you are serving with a sauce (Bolognese maybe?) these will taste best if you finish cooking them in the sauce for a minute or two at the very end. Meaning pull them out of the water at about 4 or 5 minutes, drain (but not too thoroughly) and finish cooking them with 1/2 your sauce till they are al dente (save a little of the cooking water, which you can add to get the sauce consistency you want). Again grab them after about 4 minutes of boiling, throw them into a pan with about 1/2 cup of sauce per portion, cook and toss gently for a minute or two, until the noodles are cooked to your liking. The noodles will absorb the sauce and all the flavors, and make for a very hearty dish (see my dish, served with some asparagus as a side). Top with a bit more of your (reserved) sauce and a little grating of Parmesan.
Pappardelle with Bolognese sauce is made for each other so that’s definitely a combo you should think of for these noodles. If not a homemade ragu Bolognese you can easily use Trader Joe’s TURKEY BOLOGNESE “just sauce”. I can’t say it’s great, but it’s decent if you don’t want to make your own (see my easy turkey ragu bolognese recipe below)
RECIPE – FAST & EASY TURKEY BOLOGNESE: Brown up a pound of ground turkey (optionally you can use ground beef, or mix of 1/2 pound each ground beef and pork, or Impossible meat for that matter). Sauté on high heat in a tablespoon of EVOO. Once the meat is browned nicely add 4 cloves of crushed fresh garlic, 1/2 a chopped onion (optional: a grated carrot) and turn down to medium heat. Add a spoon of wine, balsamico or just water to deglaze the bottom of the pan scraping up any bits. Saute on low covered for about 3 minutes then add a can of ROASTED TOMATOES (with or without chiles). Rinse out the the can 1/4 to 1/2 way full with milk. Add that in. Season to taste with salt, pepper and Italian herbs. Simmer on low for 20 minutes. Serve the sauce with a hearty noodle like Pappardelle.
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