Review: Trader Giotto’s Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo sauce is so easy to make from scratch — it’s just heavy cream, butter and parmesan cheese (and in my case, lots and lots of pepper and garlic) — that one wonders why anyone would put it in a jar and sell it. We all know the answer to that question: we’re usually too lazy to make it ourselves.

Trader Joe’s version of this simple recipe has waaaay more than three ingredients (what the hell is xanthan gum?) but you sure can’t tell by tasting it. I know it’s supposed to be kind of bland, but this stuff is beyond bland. It doesn’t really taste like anything, but despite being incredibly runny it has a creamy mouth feel. I’ve had better alfredo in frozen dinners (Marie Callender’s is my favorite.)

I made this sauce my own by heating it on the stove top to make it thicker, and by adding salt, pressed garlic and freshly ground black pepper.

If you want make your own from scratch, here’s the Williams-Sonoma recipe. (Nutmeg? Where did that come from?)

Cooking, Portion Control and the Single Girl

For dinner last night I opened a package of chicken breasts (two) and baked them in Trader Joe’s Satay Peanut Sauce.  This was really more food than necessary for one person, but I ended up eating all of it, rationalizing (this time) that it was the only thing I’d eaten all day.

I tend to do this a lot, since most packaged foods and recipes are in quantities for more than one person. (Yes, I know there are tons of single-serving frozen meals out there, but they can be pricey and most taste like cardboard.)  I’m not a big fan of leftovers.

Of course I have people over for dinner on occasion, and my roommate and I often share meals, but most of the time, what’s a single person to do?

Chowdah!

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Trader Joe’s. It’s where I do the bulk of my grocery shopping.

When it comes to New England clam chowder, you can’t top Legal Sea Foods (their secret: bacon!) or SF’s Swan Oyster Depot. But sometimes you have to stay home and eat the canned stuff. I had the clam chowder from Trader Joe’s (labeled “Pilgrim Joe’s”) for breakfast this morning (hey, it’s finals week) and got that feeling I get when I eat most Trader Joe’s soups: major disappointment.

I opened the can, and it smelled GREAT. I tried to pour it out, and nothing happened — it was so thick I had to dig it out with a spoon. I added a can of milk according to the directions, and Ms. Pinky came running into the kitchen. (Anything fishy, to her, is kitty crack.)

“This soup is made with clams which are processed within hours of being caught,” says the label, but “clams” should be in the singular. I think I tasted a total of about three little bits of clam. It’s probably not the worst chowder I’ve ever had, but it tasted pretty bland, even after adding copious amounts of pepper. It’s definitely not the yummy thick chunky stuff they serve over at Swan’s, but it was way better than the TJ’s French Onion soup that made me fart continuously for 24 hours afterwards. I am not looking forward to heating up the bag of Trader Joe’s cioppino that’s sitting in my freezer right now.

Pinky had a taste and quickly backed off because it was too hot; once it cooled down she was no longer interested. (Half an hour later, she threw up.)

So, my favorite white chowder-in-a-can is still Campbell’s Select. And I need to quit procrastinating and finish this damn paper so I can graduate.