Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread

I've told this story before, life gets in the way and my writing suffers. While away this time I did some more traveling in Europe and had the incredible opportunity to eat at a very special restaurant. A restaurant so special that I have to keep you in the dark for now, but please come back tomorrow to read about my awesome dining experience.

Now that I have your attention, let me tell you about a relatively new Trader Joe's freezer case product, the Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread with Mozzarella Cheese. I have made two of these over the last few weeks because they are that good. If you know and love the aroma and flavor of black truffles, you too will love this flatbread pizza. Keep reading to learn more, or just go to Trader Joe's and buy some of these right away. Come back and finish reading while your oven pre-heats.

I have to admit I was suprised when I first saw this in the case; I thought, truffle flatbread, at Trader Joe's, really? Well after 8 minutes in a 425 degree pre-heated oven I wanted to personally thank the buyer who found this gem for the Trader, I don't care how he or she did it, I'm just glad they did. When I opened the oven to remove the flatbread I was overcome with that amazing truffle aroma that so many of us cherish and love. The crust was crispy and chewy at the same time providing just the right amount of bite and a modest amount of mozzarella melted nicely over the mushrooms, truffles, and truffle sauce. My first bite had my taste buds dancing with joy, and my second bite had me craving more and more. This delicious, perfectly seasoned, truffle flatbread is a winner and is $4.69 for one box.Go buy some, now.

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Mini Croissants

Better late than never seems to have become my motto here at One Food Guy, and if you forget to take these tasty mini croissants from Trader Joe's out of the freezer the night before you want to eat them, you'll be having croissants for dinner instead of breakfast. That is of course assuming you want to eat them for breakfast in the first place. In any case, just like the chocolate croissants I reviewed a few weeks ago, these mini croissants from Trader Joe's require 7-9 hours at room temperature to defrost and proof prior to baking. When ready, 15-20 minutes at 350F and you'll have light, delicious, fresh baked croissants. The box of 8 costs $3.99 and is well worth the money. I ate mine sliced in half and filled with a fried egg covered in melted manchego cheese but they are simply delicious all on their own.

When you can't fly to Paris for breakfast, or even make it to that little French bakery on the other side of town, be prepared and keep a box or two of these mini croissants in your freezer. They do take a little forethought since you need to set them out the night before, or in the morning for an evening snack, but trust me, they are worth it. Bon Appétit!

Next time on Tuesday's Tasting, a fantastic flatbread pizza: Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants

Trader Joe has outdone himself. While at my local Trader Joe's last week I saw a box of Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants in the freezer case, a relatively new product. Recently back from a trip into Paris where I did enjoy an amazing pain au chocolat (known as a chocolate croissant in the US,) I thought I would give them a try. So, wow! You need to stop into your local Trader Joe's as soon as you can to pick up some of these amazing, bakery-fresh good chocolate croissants; one box of four croissants is $3.99

J and I decided to try them this past Sunday morning so as the directions indicate on the box, I took the frozen croissants from the box on Saturday night and placed them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I left them out on the counter to proof overnight and in the morning they had nearly quadrupled in size! I preheated the oven to 350F, baked 22 minutes (the box says 20-25,) then let them rest out of the oven for another 10 minutes. These chocolate croissants were light, airy, soft, chocolaty, and oh so delicious! There are four in a single package so J and I each had one Sunday morning, and then ate the rest yesterday. They were still delicious yesterday morning, exhibiting the slightly toothsome texture that a good French pastry should have. I strongly advise you to go out and buy a few boxes as soon as you get the chance, in fact I bought five more boxes on my way home from work last night! Once the word gets out about these, TJ's is going to have a hard time keeping them in stock!

Enjoy my Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissant experience in the following series of photographs -

So there you have it, Trader Joe's Chocolate Croissants, go get some and enjoy. Tune in next week for my review of the chocolate croissant's little big cousin, Trader Joe's Mini Croissants!

The Triumphant Return of Tuesday's Tastings - TJ's Butter Chicken Masala

After several months of dormancy, Tuesday's Tastings makes a triumphant return with my review of Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala. When I was at my local Trader Joe's about a month ago, I noticed a few new frozen Indian meals that looked like they had some promise. I took a look at the ingredients of this Butter Chicken Masala and saw fenugreek, an herb commonly used in much of India's native dishes including curry. The inclusion of this herb added some credibility to Trader Joe's claim on the box that this was an "Authentic Indian Recipe"so I thought for a few dollars I would give it a try.

After about 10 minutes in the microwave - 5 minutes on defrost, 4 minutes on high, and 1 minute to cool - I peeled back the cellophane cover and was greeted with a familiar smell, that of slow cooked, tender, spicy chicken masala. The basmati rice lacked much of any fragrance and with my first bite I was greeted with some slightly rubbery grains, but the chicken was very tender, very flavorful, and actually quite good. Like many Indian dishes, the chicken was spicy, but not hot spicy, just spices spicy. It tasted very close to some real butter chicken masalas that I've eaten in India and that's a big compliment to Trader Joe. I did find that when I mixed the chicken and gravy (what Indian's call sauce) with the rice, the whole meal was very good and certainly tasted like an authentic Indian recipe.

If you like Indian food, real Indian food, I recommend you pick up some of this Trader Joe's Butter Chicken Masala the next time you're at the market. Once you've had a taste, come back here and leave a comment; let me know what you think.

Happy eating.

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets

Faithful readers, Tuesday's Tasting is back!

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that J can not have cheese or milk made from cow's milk. Sheep and goat's milk cheese are perfectly fine though. So when I picked up a box of Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets, I knew exactly what I was going to make, Eggplant Manchego! Well, that's what J and I are calling it. It is our version of Eggplant Parmigiana in which we substitute the parmigiana reggiano and mozzarella cheeses with manchego cheese, made from sheep's milk.

J helped out with this dinner by baking off the eggplant cutlets at 425 for about 15 minutes. I then layered the baked eggplant in a 9x9 Pyrex baking dish with Rao's Homemade Arrabbiata (Fra Diavlo) sauce and a mix of shredded manchego and midnight moon goat's milk cheese. I also sprinkled on some additional seasonings like oregano, crushed red pepper and garlic powder even though the sauce and eggplant cutlets were already nicely seasoned.

While I assembled the dish, I put on a pot of salted water for the pasta, Whole Food's 365 Organic Whole Wheat Linguine. Once the eggplant manchego was assembled, I baked it in the oven at 375 for about the time it took to cook the pasta, 12 minutes, just enough to melt the cheese and marry all the flavors together. I plated a nice helping of the eggplant manchego right on top of a nice sized portion of linguine and topped everything with some extra sauce. I also baked some homemade garlic bread in the oven along with the eggplant.

If you are looking for a quick and easy meal on a week night, I highly suggest you try out Trader Joe's Eggplant Cutlets. Whether you make eggplant manchego like me or want to make an eggplant parm sandwich, these eggplant cutlets are great. They cook up fast in the oven and come with 4-5 servings in the box. On your next trip to Trader Joe's you should pick up a box of these eggplant cutlets.

Constructing the Almost Perfect Pizza

I know, I'm way behind on posting; I still have plenty more from India and a recent trip to Switzerland. I also have some 'material' from a great restaurant in Boston called Toro and a Greek restaurant called The Aegean from right here in Framingham where I live.

But, love is in the air, and tonight was pizza night in Chez One Food Guy. Pizza night in my house started back in February and since then many pizzas have been made in my kitchen. I've tried whole wheat dough and herbed dough, no more though since the plain dough is simply the best. I've made pizzas with spinach, eggplant, chicken, and pepperoni, lots of sauce or a little sauce, and always a blend of Manchego, Pecorino Romano, and sometimes Cordobes - all sheep's milk cheeses.

Tonight was a special night though, I had a great pizza cooking in my head all day and couldn't wait to get home to make it. I stopped at Trader Joe's on my way home to pick up the dough and other necessary ingredients. Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, I made a caramelized onion, baby arugula (also known as rocket,) black mission fig and goat cheese pizza. My inspiration for this pizza came from a couple different places, for the arugula and goat cheese, thank you Wednesday Chef, and for the figs, thank you to my good friend Jason in Luzern, Switzerland. He recently made me a salad with fresh figs and now I can't get enough of them; I used dried figs for this pizza. The caramelized onions were all my own. Here is how I made this fabulous pizza.

Black mission figs, caramelized red onion, baby arugula, Trader Giotti's basic pizza dough, Trader Joe's First Lady Reserve unfiltered olive oil, and soft goat cheese (not pictured)

After letting the dough rest on the counter while I caramelized the onions, I stretched it gingerly over the back of my floured knuckles just so it was paper thin, almost to the point of tearing. I lay the dough across a pizza peel dusted with corn meal.

Next, I gently brushed the dough with unfiltered (flavorful) olive oil and spread out the caramelized onions.

On top of the caramelized onions goes a nice thick layer of baby arugula; don't worry, the arugula will wilt down.

I then generously sprinkled on some black mission figs that I quartered

and some soft goat cheese. And topped it all with some kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a good drizzle of the Trader Joe's First Lady Reserve unfiltered olive oil.

Then onto the pizza stone in a 475° oven and ten minutes later...

We have the Almost Perfect Pizza!

You're wondering why it's the Almost Perfect Pizza, right? Well this pizza was certainly delicious. The crust was perfectly thin and crispy. The caramelized onions, arugula, figs and goat cheese were nearly perfect together. But something was missing, just a little something to offset the sweetness of the fig and caramelized onions. The missing piece, I believe, is a little acidity to balance out the sweetness. This pizza as it is has shot to the very top of my pizza menu, and next time I will caramelize the onions with just a touch of aged balsamic vinegar...PERFECTION!

Tuesday's Tasting - Trader Joe's Shepards Pie

Can you believe it's been almost a year since I've posted up a Tuesday's Tasting? I certainly can't. Tonight marks the triumphant return of Tuesday's Tasting with a selection that is sure to please. Reader's, I give to you Trader Joe's Shepard's Pie.

When I was growing up, Shepard's pie was a go to for my Mom, along with tuna casserole, meatloaf, and baked chicken and rice. When it comes to Shepard's pie, what's not to love about beef, vegetables and mashed potatoes layered on top of each other. It is, and always will be comfort food at it's best. Well, comfort food for non-vegetarians at least. As good as this Shepard's pie is, it can't touch my Mom's...love you Mom!

Now let's talk about TJ's Shepard's Pie. The beef is tender and flavorful, not ground but shredded like it might be brisket. The vegetable medley consists of peas, carrots, corn and green beans, and they actually taste fresh. The peas really stood out in the mix, still somewhat crisp, and still bright green, I did not doctor the photo below. There were no green-gray mushy peas here folks. As for the mashed potatoes, they were good, not great, but good. J said she thought the mashed potatoes could be better, but overall it was good Shepard's pie. Finally the gravy, rich and tasty, it adds a nice bit of flavor to the whole package.

It couldn't have been any easier to make either, 9-10 minutes in the microwave on high and 1 minute of rest and it was done. I will warn you though, I peeled the plastic off one corner of the plastic dish to vent it during cooking, just like I was told too, and the gravy bubbled out and over the sides, making a nice mess of the glass dish that spins in my microwave. Save yourself the microwave cleanup and put the Shepard's Pie dish on another plate to cook.


If you remember Shepard's pie from your childhood, or if you're just a shepard's pie fan in general, I strongly encourage you to head to your local Trader Joe's and pick up a package or three of Trader Joe's Shepard's Pie, it's good. Really.

Pizza Night!

Pizza. It's a food of love as one of the Food Network celebrity chefs would say. Good old fashioned comfort food. And tonight, it's home made! I got the idea from my friend Mike who said he was making pizza with his wife, so thanks Mike.

I stopped in to Trader Joe's on my way home from work to pick up all the fixin's. I bought a bag of ready made pizza dough ($.99) from the refrigerated case, a block of Manchego cheese ($5.19), a package of pepperoni ($2.69), a package of grilled chicken strips ($5.69), and a jar of Trader Giotti's Pizza Sauce ($1.89). I already had Pecorino Romano cheese at home as well as dried oregano and crushed red pepper. This was going to be some good pizza and all for $16.45, about the priced you'd pay for one pizza at a fancy pizza place.

One package of dough is enough for two good sized thin crust pizzas. I removed the dough from the bag - make sure you flour your hands or the dough will stick to them - and placed it on my floured Boos board. Using my pastry scraper I divided the dough in half and began to work each half into a flat shape for the pizza. If the dough is cold, as mine was, it will need to rest and warm up before you'll be able to really stretch the dough. When cold, the dough will be very elastic and won't retain it's stretched shape very well.

Once the dough has rested for about ten minutes, I stretched it out using my knuckles underneath the dough. If you use your finger tips, you're likely to tear the dough or poke a finger through. So I stretched out my dough and placed it on our pizza peel that I dusted with cornmeal; the cornmeal will help the pizza slide off the peel and onto the pizza stone in the oven. I then spread a good coating of Trader Giotti's Pizza Sauce on the dough. J wanted to help make the pizza so she spread about a cup of shredded Manchego cheese, half a cup of grated Pecorino Romano, a healthy dose of dried oregano, crushed red pepper and freshly ground black pepper. Doesn't this pizza look great already?!

Next, J added some sliced pepperoni and pieces of grilled chicken,

and into a 450 degree oven for twelve minutes. Wow this pizza looks great!

While pizza number one (above) was in the oven, I worked on pizza number two. I used the same cheese and spice blend, but made this pizza half pepperoni and half grilled chicken, just to mix things up.

Yummy pizza on a cold Friday night. It doesn't get much better than this!