dish | Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Trader Joe’s SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with Butter & Sage (& recipe ideas)

Trader Joe’s SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI with Butter & Sage (Product of Italy)

Ingredients include: Sweet potatoes, wheat flour, potatoes, water, butter, milk, eggs, Grana Padano cheese, sugar, salt, sage….

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.

Three of us tasted it as part of a dinner we put together.

We all thought that yes this was tasty. Our main comment to begin with though about the fact these say “sweet potato”. Other than the fact these have an orange color, none of us could have told you just by tasting it, that these were made using regular potato or sweet potato. Sweet potato is listed as the first ingredient though.

Butter and sage is a classic sauce. This sauce here was tasty. The flavor of the sauce was nice and buttery with a hint of sage. 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 at all! Since there is a good amount of sauce, be sure to have something to mop it all up with like some good crusty bread, as we did.

HEATING: It takes about 6 minutes, using either Microwave or Stove Top to cook this from frozen. I cooked this on the stove top in a nonstick pan (adding 2 tbls water or broth and cover and stirring occasionally.)

You can easily turn this into a more substantial meal by adding some things to the dish (protein or veggies).

TIP: THIS MATCHES WELL WITH THE ORGANIC ITALIAN CHICKEN SAUSAGES

For example, add your favorite Chicken Sausages (or meatballs. Some veggies perhaps, many items will match well with the sauce and the gnocchi.

In a separate pan (or use the same pan to brown these first) Brown up sliced chicken sausages and mix those in when the gnocchi are ready (or chicken meatballs) . I think Shrimp would work 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.

FULL MEAL: Add some salad and bread along with this and you can have a nice substantial meal using 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 product I 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!)

How To Fry Gnocchi (and why you should want to!)

Trader Joe’s “Tteok Bok Ki” KOREAN SPICY RICE CAKES

“This dish, a mainstay of Korean street food, begins with cylinders of tender, chewy rice cakes (think mochi or gnocchi) cooked in a spicy-umami, savory and sweet sauce….”

(update summer 2022: its been MIA for awhile (NYC)

I confess when I saw these for the first time in the frozen Asian food section at Trader Joe’s recently I got a little excited. Because Tteok Bok Ki is a Korean dish that I really love. I have eaten plenty of these in restaurants. In case you’re not familiar with it already, Korean “Tteok Bok Ki” (sounds like TokeBokeKee) is a hugely popular typically Korean dish, comprised of soft, very chewy rice cakes in tube shape that are cooked in an addictive spicy, sweet red sauce of Gochugang (Korean red pepper paste), brown sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds plus other seasonings. It has lots of Umami.

I had to try Trader Joe’s version. It at least says “Product of Korea”. Having now tried it while I can’t say of course that it’s the best I ever had still it’s fairly decent. Tasty enough to recommend you give it a try.

We had it for dinner and really enjoyed it, especially as I fixed it up a bit with a few ingredients (see below). Inside the package are two bags, one containing white rice cakes and bag of sauce which the instructions tell you to thin with a cup of water. I made them in the “Traditional Preparation” style written on the package. I don’t see the point of making the “crispy” style as they will be covered with sauce and not crispy after that.

TIPS: I found that the recommended 1 cup water they say to add seems like it’s too much. When I added a cup of water the sauce came out on the thin side. Normally Tokbokki sauce should be pretty thick. So the next time I make these I’ll reduce the water to 3/4 or even 1/2 cup for a thicker sauce. You can always add a few tablespoons of water if too thick. Also be sure to stir quite a bit as it cooks, as this also thickens the sauce from starch released by the rice cakes.

Another TIP: To make it more authentic I added a some things to the dish. I suggest you should add some things. At the very least add a few hard boiled eggs which is the way it’s typically served in Korea. Add cooked peeled eggs to the sauce so they cook for about 5 minutes and get a bit imbued with the sauce (cut them in half when you serve). Also, in Korea the dish might have thin “fish cakes” in it. If you have an H-Mart near you, you can get these type of thin fish cakes or other add-ins. As I didn’t have any, I improvised with something I had in the fridge which was some TJ “Baked Tofu”. That kind of worked for texture and added additional protein. I sliced the tofu thinly in the style of those aforementioned fish cakes. I also threw in a bit of fresh cilantro and that worked well too for flavor and color. I also gave the dish a drizzle of Sesame Oil just before serving, typically Korean taste. Chopped scallions are very typical as well so add some. If you happen to have a box of Gochugang in the fridge, adding in a tablespoon or two during cooking couldn’t hurt for maximum authentic Korean flavors.

The final dish turned out quite tasty and made a nice dinner for two of us along with some good Kimchi – or just make a salad. It was not very spicy. If you add a few things (even just a few hard boiled eggs and chopped scallions) it turns this basic package from a side dish into a lunch or dinner. The TJ package goes for only $3.79 (1 lb). If you get Tteok Bok Ki in a Korean restaurant it could easily cost triple that price, though of course the one you get at a restaurant is likely be better. However if you fix this up a wee bit this can turn out pretty decent. So given how convenient this frozen TJ version is, I will surely buy this again (update: we have already) It’s a real treat of Korean textures and flavors. In future I may get those fish cakes at H-Mart which are optional but will really make this into a more authentic Tteok Bok Ki. I love that Trader Joe’s is carrying more and more Korean foods. Now if Trader Joe’s could only improve their source of the mediocre meh KIMCHI they carry (sigh, its better than nothing). H-Mart has great Kimchi. Just sayin’!

AS-IS the package is GLUTEN FREE and VEGAN.

Optional TJ list for shopping: eggs, cilantro, scallions, toasted sesame oil, baked tofu…

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/tteok-bok-ki-071551