“Delicate flakes of Kosher salt perfect for finishing steaks, seafood, and veggies”
You may wonder as I did, why is Trader Joe’s selling huge boxes of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt? Well if you’ve watched The Bear or seen any chef cooking on TV or Youtube you may have noticed almost every one seems to use – and specify – Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt in their cooking. Its the “Go To” salt for most professional cooks and has even gotten trendy now. It may be on THE BEAR but my Grandma (and probably yours too) used it for 70+ years.
If a recipe specifies “1 tsp Kosher Salt” please know you that is you put that amount of regular table salt, it will be too salty. The bigger coarser grains take up more room than a fine salt if you are measuring it. Now I haven’t bought Diamond Crystal for a few years and when I saw this at Trader Joe’s the other day I got sticker shock seeing how much Kosher Salt seems to be now! $8.99 for a 3 lb. box?! ($3 bucks per pound!) Wow, I am pretty sure the last time I bought a box a few years back I paid about $5 so it’s really gone up, probably thanks in part to becoming Trendy via social media.
By contrast Trader Joe’s sells their regular Sea Salt (fine) for about $2 for over 1 1/2 lbs. However I am seeing “kids” (to me that is) buying the Diamond Crystal at Trader Joe’s recently. I was able to find a 1 pound box of kosher salt for about $2 on Amazon. (But it’s Morton’s brand not Diamond Crystal and you can’t just use the same amount, use less)
I really liked this blueberry preserve Trader Joe’s has come out with, which uses wild organic blueberries from “the Canadian Boreal Forest“. It has an intense and delicious flavor of wild blueberries which are much smaller than cultivated ones. It’s very tasty though I found it a bit on the sweet side, borderline overly sweet, so what I like to do with jams I find too sweet is tame down the sweetness with some lemon juice. I added the juice of about a 1/4 of a fresh lemon into the jar and mixed it in. That did the trick for me, cutting down the sweetness with some more acid and adding a very nice subtle lemon undertone. It made it even better and really improved the whole thing. So my recommendation is buy a lemon with this jam (if you didn’t have one already in the fridge).
TIP: after adding the lemon juice I add a little piece of the lemon rind and throw that it in to the jam for even more flavor from the rind’s oil. Just push it to the bottom.
The Organic Wild Blueberry Preserve is $4.49 for a 17.5 oz jar. Not cheap but then it is Certified Organic and taste-wise I would say this stuff is certainly a Gourmet Level jam. Probably elsewhere (say Whole Paycheck?) a similar one would probably go for more like six or seven dollars. Try this on just about anything but I really think it would be heavenly on a slice of TJ’s Sliced Brioche bread, toasted with butter, spread with the blueberry preserves. Ditto on an English Muffin, toasted Crumpet or on your pancakes….
Trader Joe’s says: “Our supplier takes wild, organic blueberries, harvested from the Canadian Boreal Forest, and simmers them with organic cane sugar to complement their pleasantly tart and rich blueberry flavor.”
I had read somewhere on the ‘Net that this Ugandan coffee was one of the best coffees Trader Joe’s has offered.
So I had to check it out. I saw it on the shelf of NEW ITEMS but I was leaving and already had too much to carry, so just made a mental note to buy a bag the next day. Of course the next day when I went back, there wasn’t any more of it!
Sold out. Of course by their very nature “small lot” means these coffees come in a limited batch from small producers. Think Limited Editions. What a bummer. But fortunately it just so happened that my upstairs neighbor happened to have a bag of this coffee. She generously offered me some of the coffee, so that I could review it. Bless her. I ground some beans up. The aroma was just fantastic. I mean it smelled AMAZINGLY good.
Then I brewed it up. Wow. Was I impressed. I was almost shocked at just how good this coffee tasted. Not to mention this may be the first time I’d even tried a coffee from Uganda come to think of it. I am sold. A fan. I definitely agreed with all those who gave this high marks. This must be one of the best coffees I’ve tried from Trader Joe’s, period.
The Mountains of the Moon UGANDA RWENZORI coffee is just a fantastic tasting coffee, which I found wonderfully balanced. To my taste buds its just perfect, hitting all right notes. Bold and robust but not over powering, it was both a little sweet and a little bitter, both smooth and robust, tasting surely like an “African” coffee a little ascertic and winy and yes even had those “notes of chocolate” describe on the bag. This is just terrific. Also TJ’s got it right that this is actually a “medium roast” as described (sometimes TJ’s roast descriptions are off). I loved this coffee and want more. I’m crossing my fingers we see it again (might be next harvest?) If by any chance you see it, do yourself a favor and grab a bag if you can. I have a feeling anyone who considers themselves a coffee lover is going to love this. If/when I see it again, I will be sure to stock up on a few bags. ($8.99 12 oz bag, whole bean)
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!
(On the bag…) “Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world with volcanic mountains extending the length of Western Sumatra. Coffee on this lush island is grown on small farms, where the beans are picked, washed and pulped by hand using the wet hulling process, creating some of the most flavorful and complex beans on the planet. Our organic and fair trade Sumatra beans are carefully roasted to a medium dark level to reveal smooth earthy flavors with little to almost no acidity.”
If you are a fan of darker coffee beans you will probably like this “Fair Trade Organic Sumatra” coffee. I sure do. I’m a big fan of this coffee.
Opening up the foil bag one gets a very appealing aroma. These coffee beans smell wonderful and are roasted to what TJ’s calls “medium dark”. Dark medium?
As you know, coffee roast descriptions can vary wildly, especially Trader Joe’s it seems but to me. I would say this is just south of what some might call a French roast? The beans are dark and shiny. This is not however an Espresso roast. Nor would I call these “over roasted” myself (hard to trust even this picture, you kind of have to see beans in person really). For this coffee I think the roast works, perfectly.
You will hopefully grind up your beans just before brewing of course… and all I can tell you is when I do and open up the grinder, I get an intense, heavenly coffee smell. For me the Sumatran is an excellent coffee, one of best coffees that Trader Joe’s has in a dark roast. I think this would be especially good for espresso machine owners as well as Moka pot brewers, like yours truly now. My brewing method the last few years is using a Moka pot . I also use a little milk with this to make something like old school “cafe con leche” as this coffee really stands up to and goes well with milk. While great as is, sometimes I will make my own custom blend of light and dark beans using this Sumatran with some lighter beans like the excellent TJ’s Azmari BUNNI Afro-Latin coffee to come up with a wonderful blend of both light and dark beans from Latin, African and Asian countries. If dark roasts are not your thing.
And of course you can brew doing a drip or pour over, I still say mixing some of this into your lighter beans, will make a good and slightly more intense coffee for drip and pour over brewers.
The 13 oz bag of the Sumatra Coffee goes for $8.99. For Fair Trade beans, that’s not bad at all. For best flavor, I say best to use this up fairly quickly, say within a two weeks after opening the bag, or in a pinch freeze some. TIP: I save empty bags for doing this. PS Even darker? The other very good espresso roast beans I like that TJ’s has is the organic Five Countries Espresso. (Update: Unfortunately Discontinued!!)
Left: Organic Sumatra Right: Azmari Bunni beans (TJ’s calls Left, “medium dark” and the Right “medium”. Go figure) But both are very good!
“Old Fashioned Blister” Roasted Peanuts and OMG these are Oh So Good. Maybe these are THE BEST roasted peanuts you ever had. Old Fashioned like ones I remember when we were kids we could go to a real “Nut Store” and buy them just out of the roasting pan. These taste super fresh and are seriously delicious. If you like peanuts you must try these. I promise you will not be sorry, they are just so yummy it’s hard to stop eating them. These are $2.99 a bag (15 oz). INGREDIENTS: Extra Large Water Blanched Virginia Peanuts, Peanut Oil, Salt. Simple and delicious.
“Inside this bag you will find captivatingly crunchy, satisfyingly sweet clusters of rolled oats and pecans, with notes of maple syrup and honey”
If you are a fan of the big clumps you find in granola, you may like this. Trader Joe’s “Just The Clusters” Maple Pecan Granola gives you lots of clumps. I do like these crunchy clusters made even crunchier than other granolas as this has some rice flour added in for extra crunch.
It has pecans in it, a fair amount if not loaded with them. I guess at this price (3.29) they can’t put a ton of them in there but there are quite a few very tasty roasted pieces of pecans, and the maple flavor of this granola is tasty. As per the Nutrition Label, I wish it didn’t have quite the amount of Added Sugars it says but I really don’t eat a whole bowl of this, or even the 2/3 cups they use as the serving size. What I use this for really is as a nice topping to add crunch on top of my breakfast yogurt bowl, usually something like chia seeds, mixed with yogurt and kefir and fruits (banana, apples, berries…) This would equally be great on top of oatmeal or overnight oats for a little crunch. You could even eat some as a snack, in moderate amounts.
$3.99 for a 1 pound bag. No weird ingredients, all pretty natural as you can see….
Here’s another new Korean/Asian item from Trader Joe’s. These rice cakes are flat oval disks made from sticky rice, so are very chewy and soft. These kind of rice cakes are a typical ingredient in many Asian cuisines, Chinese, Korean others. In Chinese cooking these rice cakes are known as “nian gao”. If you fry them, they get a little crispy, which is how I like them best and the way I would suggest you try to make them. The bag has just rice cakes (no sauce) so you will add your own stuff. You can use these to make a stir fried dish with vegetables and a protein. There is a basic stir fry recipe on the bag (“Stir Fried Rice Cakes with Vegetables” which you could expand upon with adding a protein (say chicken, shrimp, pork or baked tofu.) Tip: of course do add garlic which this recipe omits (?!) You could come up with a Korean stir fry variation by adding some Kimchi or Gochujang and pork or chicken. The other thing you can do with these is add them to a soup (like a Wonton and Chicken Soup) in which case, no need to fry them up. The rice cakes are $3.29 (16 oz). They’re are in the Asian frozen area. These are a “Product of Korea”. While not quite as good as ones I buy in say at H-Mart in a pinch these will do and easy to buy. VEGAN, GLUTEN FREE
I make GINGER TEA (just boil ginger in water) and really like that. This tastes pretty much exactly like that. So while cheaper to make it yourself of course, my wife really liked this Ginger Drink Mix both for the convenience and taste, so she’s buying this regularly now. It’s $2.99 (7 packets). Dissolve with 12 oz water hot or cold. Product Of Thailand.
Want to make it yourself for way less ? Here’s my ginger tea “recipe”. Take about 1″ or so of fresh ginger. Slice it up and put in a pot with about 2 cups of water. Boil for 10 minutes or so. Add sugar if desired. Enjoy!
You will find Trader Joe’s FRESH SALSA VERDE in the refrigerated section, and it’s quite good. If you are just used to tomato based (red) salsas and you want to try something a little bit different for your Mexican dishes, a Salsa Verde like this is a great variation to try out. This salsa is made primarily from roasted tomatillos. Tomatillo based green salsas are very typical in Mexico, and frequently one will find both a red and green salsa next to each other for the diner to choose from. Though they slightly resemble a green tomato, in fact tomatillos are at best distant cousins to tomatoes. The tomatillo is a unique green fruit native to Mexico which were around for a thousand years or more way before the tomato was even brought by the Spanish Conquistadors (after 1500). Tomatillos are covered with papery skins, which is also pretty unique.
This Salsa Verde also has jalapenos, green chili pureé, roasted red onion, cilantro and cumin in it for a an authentic Mexican flavor.. I liked this salsa. Its not very spicy. I find it somewhere around “Medium” in the heat department so may be good for those who don’t like Really Spicy Stuff but want some great flavors. I tried it on some pork carnitas tacos and it was great with them, bringing out the pork and enhancing it perfectly. Its was also great on eggs, either on top of a fried egg or an omelet or scrambled eggs. This is great on fish, shrimp, beef, pork or chicken. I had some leftover roasted chicken which was a little dry. We just put some of this salsa over the chicken and and Voila, it made the chicken worth eating again. I have a feeling it would even be good with some grilled Tofu or just on top of rice or a protein bowl. This salsa verde goes for $2.99 for a 12 oz tub. I would buy this again.
PS – one reader likes using this to make an easy version of Green Pozole, which sounds great.
Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants) 
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