In my quest to clean up the freezer, I made these leftover Amazon cheese ravioli yesterday. They were $4.10 for the 24 oz package when we last bought them, but they’re currently unavailable.
The ravioli are filled with a mixture of ricotta, bread crumbs, Romano cheese and water, seasoned with salt, calcium carbonate, corn starch, parsley and black pepper – a pretty standard filling for cheese ravioli. It’s not particularly flavorful, however. The pasta is a little on the thick side.
In all, the ravioli are just OK – but that can be said of most frozen cheese ravioli. They are cheaper than most and they serve as a vehicle for whatever sauce you put on it.
I continue my cooking strike (which is now only set to last until I empty out my refrigerator), so when I saw this Rana Chicken Marsala Linguinemeal kit on sale at the supermarket for $, I thought I’d give it a try. Rana usually has good products, but I’ll say they really missed the mark here.
The kit comes with a bag of semi-cooked pasta and a bag of sauce. You mix the pasta and sauce in the plastic bowl provided and then you microwave. Each kit serves one person, and the portion was generous (or it felt that way due to how unappetizing it was).
The results weren’t good. First, the pasta was too salty and a bit undercooked, but that’s relatively minor. The real problem was the strange and off taste of the sauce. I can’t quite identify it, but it brought me five decades back to when we visited friends of my parents for dinner and they served us ravioli with a similarly horrible taste. They tasted hollow, as if flavor had been replaced by a vacuum, but they also reminded me of chlorine. Ultimately, I thought it might be dirt – perhaps the off note was really from the mushrooms. There were, don’t get me wrong, some hints of marsala sauce – when putting a bite in my mouth I could feel the delicious umami taste of chicken marsala coming, only for the hope to disappear at the first bite and become saltiness and dearth.
The chicken, meanwhile, was also unpleasant. It was tough, having that weird chewy consistency of microwaved and/or texturized chicken, and just being unplesant to bite.
All in all, this was a failure. I’d be curious to see if other flavors are just as bad, but not enough to risk biting into that chicken again.
As you might have noticed, I’ve been both in a cooking strike and grocery review writing frenzy. I go through cooking strikes frequently, particularly after periods of intense cooking. Still, I’ve promised myself that as soon as we eat out everything in the fridge, I’m back to cooking.
Meanwhile, I got a couple of Boston Market frozen entrees at the supermarket because they were just $3 on sale. As it turned out, that’s really all they are worth, even nowadays. But I’d remembered Boston Market as some of the better frozen meals and I thought I’d give them a chance again.
I hadn’t had this “Market Marry Me Chicken Pasta” before and it was quite disappointing. It consists ofcavatappi in a tomato sauce with pieces of what I’d call a chicken product. The pasta is pasta, cooked al dente. The sauce lacks flavor, though it has a kick. The frozen spinach adds bitterness but nothing else. It was in all, even less appetizing than your run of the mill frozen pasta. It was much improved by adding my own shredded cheese and parmesan, but if I’m going to start modifying it I might as well cook the whole thing myself.
The biggest problem, though, was the chicken. I’ve never knowingly had canned chicken, but I’m guessing this is what it’s like. The texture was just all wrong, spongy but somewhat hard, like it had retained water. I wouldn’t say it was chewy per se, but each bite was unpleasant. The flavor wasn’t bad, but that texture is just horrible.
The lesson here is to not be lazy and boil some damn pasta myself.
Boston Market frozen meals are owned by Bellisio Foods which in turn is owned by Charoen Pokphand, a Thai private conglomerate.
I call this a “review” but is it really? What can I say about Barilla campanelle pasta that would be in the least original?
Barilla is an Italian mass market brand of pasta which over the last few decades has become the largest producer of pasta in the world. It produces a cheap, consistent and satisfactory product in a variety of markets. Most products for the American market are made right here.
They offer a variety of lines but the “classic” is their standard one. The pasta is pretty neutral and does a good enough job of attaching to the sauce.
My daughter prefers to eat her pasta with butter (or butter substitute) and shredded cheese, and this shape worked well enough with that. Given the hollowness of the bell/flute shape, it probably will work even better with an actual sauce, but I haven’t tried it with that yet. I did like the unusual shape of the pasta, so it gets points for originality.
In general, I find that DeCecco pasta is superior, though more expensive – Barilla can sell for as little as $1/lb.
I’ve boycotted Barilla in the past for their anti-gay stances, and followed their support for genocidal Zionism by buying a brand from a well known genocide-supporter, I think I’ll go back to boycotting it again. Given the mid quality of these pasta, it’s one of those boycotts that are really easy to do.
These Smoked Beef Brisket Ravioli are filled with smoked beef brisket in a very tasty BBQ sauce. They are quite similar to the pulled pork ravioli I reviewed previously, but the flavor is milder and therefore better suited to the medium. I served them with butter & sage (I melted some butter in a skillet, added sage leaves and then added the boiled ravioli) and that worked well. I don’t think the ravioli would work with a tomato or cheese based sauce, though perhaps they would go with a cream (maybe and mustard?) one. Plain butter works as well.
The 8 oz package has 1 1/2 portions, which makes it a very awkward size, unless you’re feeding yourself and a child. These ravioli are 2-bite sized, but if feeding a young child you could pre-cut them for them or serve them as finger food, though the filling is prone to spilling out.
I probably will buy these again when they go on sale for $5 (normally $8 at Safeway).
I love gnocchi, but only when they are light and fluffy, with the right proportion of potato to flour. Because it is hard to get it right, I never make gnocchi – so it’s usually something I eat at restaurants. You can, however, buy pre-made, ready-to-boil gnocchi and once in a while I get them. They are OK, but not great.
De Cecco potato gnocchi ($2.50 on sale from $4) are among the best of the bunch. They are pretty light, though still heavier than I would like. Flavor wise, they are a little too bitter and in need of another pinch of nutmeg, but they are not bad. They do cook very fast (mine are overcooked in the photo).
I served the gnocchi with Rana Alfredo Sauce ($3 on sale from $6), sold refrigerated. I have liked this sauce before, but it didn’t really vibe well with the gnocchi, the combination had an unpleasantish bitter flavor. The sauce is pretty good as a dipping sauce, and I would buy it again, but not serve it with gnocchi.
It’s made with cream, parmigiano reggiano, onions, pecorino romano, food starch, natural flavors, salt, autolyzed yeast extract, garlic and spice.
Reser’s Fine Foods is best known for its buckets of potato and pasta salads – which Safeway has on sale for $5 every couple of Friday’s. They now seem to have introduce a new line of refrigerated, microwavable pasta meals. In addition to spaghetti with meat sauce, they have penne alla vodka, mac & cheese and cavatappi alfredo chicken. Regular price at Safeway is $8 for the 22oz tub (pictured next to a soda can for size), I got it on sale for $6. Price wise it’s competitive with equivalent frozen products.
Truth be told, this spaghetti with meat sauce tasted very much like the Stouffer’s frozen one. I actually expected it to taste better, given that it wasn’t frozen. Ingredient-wise, they both have a lot of artificial ingredients, so I don’t think ether is better than the other.
It doesn’t take much to boil spaghetti and mix it with store bought tomato sauce, so I wouldn’t buy this again, but as this heats in its own boil in the microwave, it doe save you some time and dishes to wash.
Frozen ravioli have long been a savior for busy moms – and just regular people. They are easy (though a bit bulky) to keep in the freezer, quick enough to make, and, combined with store-bought sauce, a super easy weeknight meal. I’m going through yet another cooking strike, so frozen ravioli have reappeared in our lives.
I’ve been buying Celentano frozen ravioli quite a bit lately because they are often on sale at Safeway ($4-5 for 20-24 oz, from a $8 purported regular price), and at that price they are cheaper than Safeway’s own brand. Safeway only carries the cheese, spinach & cheese and beef ravioli, so they are they only ones we tried.
They are pretty good, not dramatically different in taste than other brands. My daughters don’t like the spinach & cheese flavor, but they are happy enough with the cheese ones. These come in both regular and “mini” version, the latter are easier to eat. The regular sized ravioli are too large to eat with one bite, so you need to cut them in two, though you can accomplish this with a fork if you cook them past al dente (which I do). Like other raviolis, if you do this they tend to open in the boiling water and the filling comes out.
The beef ravioli have a subtle flavor, as is often the case in ravioli, but not really different than Safeway’s own brand. There is enough flavor to eat them with butter and cheese instead of sauce.
In all, if you are watching your pennies, there is no particular reason to not buy this brand versus other regular frozen ravioli brands – obviously they are not as good at Genova ravioli, my favorite brand, but they are about 1/3 the price.
When I saw these Mushrooms & Truffle Pastificio G Di Martino Stuffed Gnocchi at the World Market (~$4), I got pretty excited. I love gnocchi, I love ravioli, and the idea of stuffed gnocchi seemed logical. They had them in a variety of flavors, and I decided on Mushrooms & Truffle as everyone in my household loves mushroom ravioli.
It wasn’t until I came home that I noticed the Prop 65 warning in the package: the gnocchi have lead in them! There is no safe level of lead exposure, and the consumption of even a standard portion of lead contaminated mushrooms can have negative health effects. Lead is particularly problematic for children, who absorb a far greater proportion of it than adults. Before this purchase, I had not realized how mushrooms – in particular dried wild mushrooms – often contain lead as I hadn’t seen the Prop 65 warning before. I probably wouldn’t have bought the package if I had noticed it, but I decided to make them for myself anyway.
I shouldn’t have bothered. The gnocchi were a complete failure. The gnocchi themselves were simply not tasty. Even though I cooked them in salted water, they hadn’t really absorbed it and were in need of it and probably some type of spicing. The texture was very dry and even powdery, perhaps because they were made with dried potato flakes rather than fresh potatoes. The filling suffered from the same issue, it was very dry and had a strange consistency. Its main ingredient is ricotta cheese, and it really didn’t taste much of mushroom.
I tried them both by themselves and with tomato sauce and grated cheese. The sauce and cheese helped with the flavor, but they couldn’t really do anything about the very unpleasant texture. And for that reason, I wouldn’t bother trying the other flavors.
This gorgeous restaurant near the White House actually has good food
The main reason for our trip to Washington DC this year was to meet up with my cousin Adriana and her family who were coming to the States for some tourism of their own. My husband loves Washington DC, and I love hanging out with Adriana, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity for both of us to get what we wanted from a vacation. So on our second day in DC, we met Adriana and her family at the People’s House and then made our way to The Hamilton, taking in the outside of the White House (fully adorned with snipers on the roof), on the way.
I had originally wanted to go to the Old Ebbitt Grill, a Washington DC institution popular with both tourists and politicos, but I found out that they don’t have tables for six within the restaurant itself, and large parties are confined to an atrium adjacent to the restaurant. The nearby The Hamilton is owned by the same company and promised to provide a more welcoming atmosphere. I’m glad I chose it. Not only was the restaurant outright gorgeous – so I got to impress Adriana -, but the prices were reasonable for such an upscale place and the food was very good.
The Hamilton is quite large and it has at least a couple of dining rooms, as well as a large bar. It seems to be a favorite spot for lobbyists and we overheard some of them making their machinations while we waited to be seated. The large booths were comfortable enough, and the service was as good as what I learned to expect in Washington (California has much to learn in this regard).
The menu was pretty broad and included your basic American fare plus some sushi. My cousin and her family weren’t particularly adventurous and they all got the Hamilton burger, which came with a “‘sunny-side up egg, bacon, B&B pickles, shredded lettuce, cheddar, Gruyère, garlic aioli, house made sesame brioche” ($21). They all said they loved it. I didn’t try them myself and they might have been being polite, but even their son ate most of his and children don’t tend to eat out of politeness alone.
I had the ragu americana & rigatoni ($26), which consisted of rigatoni and “red wine braised short rib, Nonna’s meatballs, Grana Padano.” At first, it just tasted like your run of the mill pasta dish, but it grew on me with every bite. The short rib sauce was comforting and with all the umami you expect from a tomato based sauce. The meatballs were delicious. I kept thinking and craving the dish for days to come. If I go back to DC, I’ll definitely head back to The Hamilton for it. Seriously, if you like pasta, you should try it.
My daughter had the garden sushi roll ($15), “avocado, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, miso dressing.” She overall liked it, though she wasn’t blown away with it. To be fair, she’s had a lot of great sushi out there (particularly in Argentina), so that might be a tall order. She did say she’d order it again.
Mike had the jumbo lump crab cake ($28). He thought it was absolutely delicious. The crab cake had lots of crabs and came apart easily, but it was perfectly seasoned. His only regret was that he didn’t order the double portion ($48).
I don’t remember us having dessert.
We managed to get lunch done in a little over an hour, and we quickly headed out to the Ford Theater to see where President Lincoln was assassinated.
The Hamilton 600 14th Street N.W., Washington, DC 20005 (202) 787-1000
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