Ferrero Pocket Espresso To Go

One of the many perks of having both a food review blog and friends who travel, is that said friends are often nice enough to bring back foreign treats for me to review.

My friend Jess, for example, recently got back from an amazing month of studying art in Italy. (Jess will someday be a famous artist -- and when she is, I will be able to brag that she once brought me candy.) While she didn't jump at the chance to put me in her suitcase and smuggle my lame passportless butt out of the country, she did very generously bring me back some tasty offerings.



One of those goodies was this package of Ferrero Pocket Espresso To Go.

Now, I am already a fan of Ferrero Pocket Coffee candies (as opposed to these little mini-drinks). I've never done a review of those myself, but I love them. Cybele did both a review and an "Eat With Your Eyes" post, which you can see here and here.

Anyway, Jess -- being the cool person that she is -- saw these and thought of me.

Both Pocket treats are espresso based and both contain dark chocolate. Where they differ is that while Pocket Coffee is a liquid-filled candy, Pocket Espresso is actually all liquid and is meant to be drunk via the universe's cutest, tiniest straw!



Basically, Pocket Espresso is the world's tiniest coffee pod/juice box type product. Think of those little plastic packets in any diner or fast food joint that contain condiments, and you've got the size and shape. There's no denying that I love this product based on its packaging alone...but as we all know, the really important question this is: how does it taste?

I can understand why the pods are so tiny -- it's a small package, but it packs a BIG caffeine punch! The texture of the liquid is somewhere between actual espresso and chocolate syrup. It's not as thick as syrup, but not at the same time it's not as thin as coffee.



Tastewise: Again, that same comparison works pretty well. It's got that deep, dark roasted flavor that, while not as complex as a good espresso, is as good as one could ever hope that a coffee-flavored candy would get. Complementing the coffee is dark chocolate. It's a little woodsy, and not terribly sweet.

Let me tell you, these things may sound kind of odd but they were really good. I think the portion was perfect -- if it was any bigger, you'd probably be bouncing off the wall. If I had more of these, I would have liked to have tried chilling one (although I wonder if it would have caused it to thicken too much to suck out through the straw). And I think it would be killer poured over ice cream.

Like most things Italian, I have to say this was pretty awesome! (OK, I will grant you I am biased to all things Italian.)



PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from my super cool friend Jess.

CALORIES:
47 calories per pod.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Does not appear to be available in the United States...but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky and find it at an import shop. As the label is entirely in Italian and my Italian sucks, I am unsure if this contains any possible allergens.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
ferrero.com

Stouffer's Five Cheese Lasagna

I have been jonesing for lasagna in the worst way for about a week now. Sadly, the lasagna I really want is located in Georgia (and my mother does not like to make lasagna all that much). In my house lasagna was made, without exception, on Christmas and Easter. But during the rest of the year, getting it was more of a treat. And yes, I do LOOOOOVES it cold, straight from the fridge.

Believe it or not, though, I have never attempted to make my own lasagna from scratch. Honestly, it is a little too much work to go into for something that only I will eat. I am also notoriously picky about my Italian foods. I tend not to like restaurant versions. As for the one restaurant lasagna that I did like...well, while the restaurant is still there, the old lasagna is not (most of the food changed when the owners did).

So, what's a girl to do? Stouffer's was on sale...and it's pretty damn hard to turn down not only the chance for a review, but lasagna for only $1.88! And to be fair to Stouffer's, I really do like their veggie lasagna.

But how does this version stand up?



I got the all cheese/no meat lasagna. It features the layers of noodles and sauce you would expect, with a generous cheese center.

The sauce is the same sauce used by Stouffer's for their French Bread Pizzas (which I love), and, I assume, many of their other red-sauced items. It's on the sweet side, but there are actual chunks of tomatoes and visible herbs. It's not a sauce that I would want to eat by itself, but it's doable.

The noodles are thick, and like most pasta that has been frozen, a little gummy. Not gummy enough to ruin it, but it could be better. (At the same time, it could be worse.)

The cheese center is reasonably tasty. It's a little mushy but it is cheesy. I couldn't tell you what cheeses the five cheese blend actually consists of, but yeah...it's definitely cheese.



As a whole?

I have had much worse that I paid a lot more for. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. It just sort of was. But I do understand why a lot of people like it -- for a mass-marketed frozen item, it's certainly tasty enough, and of course it's easy and convenient.

I still prefer the veggie version, though.



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

PRICE:
$1.88

CALORIES:
370 per serving (1 small package).

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains milk and wheat.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
stouffers.com

casa don puglisi: Bergamot Chocolate

Artisan chocolate from Sicily, woohoo! Nope, I haven't been to Sicily myself. I actually found this bar in New York City. (Specifically, I found it at Barzini -- a very cool Upper West Side food market. No web site, but here is their Yelp listing.) The deciding factor on getting it was that it was a bergamot flavored bar. I've never seen that before.

Interestingly enough, it seems there are actually two kinds of bergamot. There's a citrus fruit version, which is a type of bitter orange. Then there is also an herbal version that is a member of the mint family. The two are not related.

I have no idea which version is used here. There is only minimal information on the package. And while the company has a website, it is completely in Italian -- even the Google-translated version was not very helpful. Maybe once we taste it we'll know.



I liked the plain "peasant" look to the packaging. It's just brown packing paper and green twine. Nothing fancy, no graphics, only a simple tag. It gave the bar an Old World air. I'd like to say it must be like something my great-grandmother might have eaten back in the old country...but trust me, you DO NOT want to hear about the things my Nana ate (and loved).

The bar has a rough, sort of bloomed look to it. Actually, it doesn't look like a chocolate bar so much as an old, weathered brick. But this is the result of the manufacturing method. The chocolate is cold-pressed, and the sugar that it is sweetened with is added by pressing it into the chocolate rather than by being melted and mixed in. It is very, very basic: the only ingredients listed are cane sugar, cocoa paste, and bergamot. The bar can be eaten as is, or made into a drinking chocolate. And solely because I am a giver, I am going to try it both ways. Let it never be said that I won't go the extra mile for my readers.




First, eaten:

This really does taste as I imagine homemade chocolate (i.e., without tempering) would. That's not to say I don't like the taste. It tastes very dark, even though it is only a 45% cocoa chocolate. I think it's because it is so minimally processed that it seems more intense than something made by more modern methods. The chocolate has a grassy taste to it -- is that perhaps the bergamot? If it's not, then I couldn't taste the bergamot at all...and I guess as a bergamot bar, that would make it an epic fail. The sugar that is pressed into the chocolate (rather than melted in) is present in large grains, and it keeps the chocolate from being too bitter. There is no dairy quality to the bar at all -- not surprising, as it apparently doesn't contain any.



The texture is really the interesting part of the bar. It's crumbly and dry, without much of a melt. It's also crunchy -- from the sugar, as best I can tell. It's good for a few bites, but after that it just starts to feel like you're eating chocolate grit. Definitely unexpected, but also kinda...I dunno, weird. And not in a really good way.



As a drink:

To make the drinking chocolate, you mix one square of the chocolate with one cup of hot water or milk, simmering and stirring until melted and well mixed. I made my cup with Lactaid brand whole milk, and I simmered it on the stove until the chocolate was dissolved. It doesn't take long, even on a very low flame. But you do have to stir constantly.



I much preferred this as a drinking chocolate than as a solid. It's still grassy, but it also picks up more of an earthy taste. It becomes much richer and sweeter as well -- that makes sense to me, because it has given the sugar and the chocolate a chance to melt together. But it still didn't wow me. (Possibly because it remains strangely gritty.) I know I am losing foodie cred here, but I still prefer Nestlé's Abuelita.

Honestly, I love the idea of this chocolate. And it's true that this is a most unusual item. It no more resembles a typical mass market chocolate bar than a free-range bison burger grilled over an open campfire on the same Montana ranch where the bison was raised resembles a prefabricated burger from McDonald's. But I can't see going out of my way for this bar. Yeah, it tastes OK, though it's nothing outstanding. Plus, the texture is unpleasant, and I still have no idea where the bergamot was supposed to be.

Nope, I won't be buying this again.



PURCHASED FROM:
Barzini Market (New York City)

PRICE:
$3.99

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Fair trade

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
laboratoriodonpuglisi.it. Italian language only.

Bertolli Chicken alla Vodka & Farfalle

I don't do a lot of those frozen "skillet" meals that have became so popular over the last few years. That's partially because while I do eat meat, I don't eat a lot of it; and for the Italian inspired meals, I am extremely picky and tend not to like them. But the thought of one more plate of Christmas leftovers was just a little too much to bear...and my mother had thoughtfully sent this meal to me, sooo...

Bertolli Chicken alla Vodka & Farfalle consists of breast meat chicken and asparagus mixed with a creamy tomato vodka sauce. To cook the dish, all you really have to do is put it into a covered skillet and heat for about 9 minutes while stirring occasionally. Pretty easy. (Alternately, if you're having one of those horrible days when even stirring a skillet is too damned much to deal with, this meal is microwaveable. But I chose to actually cook it on the stove top.)



On the plate the sauce is a rather alarming shade of orange. Sort of like nacho cheese sauce that comes in a can. But it does cover the pasta and chicken evenly without drowning them. The taste is...well, zesty. I would almost call it "too sweet" in the way that canned/pre-made tomato products can be (but homemade never seems to). It's cheesy -- but there are no outward signs of cheese, except to say that it looks like a neon orange Alfredo sauce.

The bow tie pasta (farfalle) came out perfectly. Not gummy or mushy, just al dente. The asparagus is crisp and cut into neat bite-sized pieces. There are also little slivers of tomato, which add a little fresh quality.

The chicken is also sliced into slim bite-sized pieces, and there's not very much of it. As for what there is...it's just sort of there. It's reasonably moist and lean, but nothing special. (Not bad either, to be fair.) I do give Bertolli points for not putting those fake grill marks on the chicken. I really hate fake grill marks.



This is a perfectly serviceable meal. Nothing about it stands out as being especially good, but there's nothing particularly bad about it either. If you're not picky about your Italian food, you might love this dish. If you are picky, well...hey, it's bright orange! Everyone loves bright orange food, right?



PURCHASED FROM:
Vons Supermarket (courtesy of my mother)

Buitoni Three Cheese Tortellini

Given how much I loved the Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti, I thought I should give the tortellini a try.

Once again, my family was too lazy to bother with homemade tortellini, so I have no pre-conceived notion of how tortellini "should" taste. I had some of my own sauce on hand, but chose to eat my tortellini tossed with nothing but a little olive oil -- because I was also having a beautiful steamed artichoke with it, and I wanted to keep things simple.



The Buitoni tortellini are pretty big by tortellini standards. For the most part the pasta shells remained tight, guarding their inner cheesy goodness. The main problem the size causes is that there is a whole lot of pasta and very little filling. Now, I know that tortellini won't have the generous belly of filling that a ravioli has. It's just that normally the proportions are a little better.



The pasta is just a little too much. It's fresh and soft, but at the same time it's a little gummy.

The cheese filling -- a mix of Ricotta, Romano and Parmesan -- is fantastic. The texture is just a little course. It's tangy from the sharp cheeses. There is a nice roasted garlic element. Overall, really good. The fatal flaw is that there's very, very little of it.

Honestly, in its current pasta-to-filling proportions, I wouldn't buy this again. If they were to tweak them so there was less pasta, I would look into it. If they were just a little smaller, they'd be killer. But sadly, Buitoni's tortellini do not fare nearly as well as their Wild Mushroom Agnolotti.



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

Buitoni Wild Mushroom Agnolotti

If you have read this site for any length of time you probably have noticed I don't review a heck of a lot of Italian products.
Clearly, it's not for lack of new things to try- it's just that I am incredibly picky about Italian food (being Italian) and because of that I don't feel like I can give a very fair shake to some products. That being said one of the perks of being a member of Food Buzz is that every so often they send me out new products. This time I was sent out the new Wild Mushroom Agnolotti from Buitoni. I like mushrooms, I like ravioli and my family was too lazy to make there own so I have no predisposed feeling on ready made.


I followed the instructions of tossing them with a little olive oil but because I had none of my own sauce on hand (I am a sauce snob) I ate them "bare".

I have to admit they are not the most attractive thing I have ever eaten but damned if they were good!
The pasta skins are fresh and they actually came out al dente! One of the things about frozen ravioli is that it can be rubbery but there was no such problem here (probably because they are "fresh" rather then frozen). The mushroom filled center (made with cremini and portobello's) is earthy and meaty. The roasted garlic actually tastes sweet and caramelized. The cheese add's a nice sharp tang and adds a thicker texture to the filling.

I liked these enough that I will definitely buy them for myself. There were the inevitable couple of ravioli that "exploded" but I have never been able to avoid that happening so I am prone to thinking it is something that I do rather then a problem with the pasta it's self.

I may have to give the Buitoni tortellini a try!

Rating:



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Food Buzz

Bertolli Shrimp Scampi & Linguini

Is there ever a bad time to have shrimp scampi?
No, I am pretty sure the answer to that is no- but some times you want scampi and you don't have a whole lot of time. Enter Bertolli Classic Dinner Shrimp Scampi with Linguini. Everything you need for dinner is in the bag and it can be on your table in 10 minutes.

The pasta is done in a creamy garlic sauce and features slices of bell pepper, large pieces of garlic and of course shrimp. The pasta is done perfectly- nice and al dente, for frozen pasta quite impressive.

The sauce. Surprisingly strong on the garlic (which I consider to be a very good thing) creamy, but not cloying or "cheesy" my only complaint with the sauce is that the pepper is the strongest flavor. It's not necessarily a bad thing- it is just not my favorite.

The shrimp are top notch, yes they are frozen (well duh) but they are plump and sweet and again happily are perfectly cooked.

All in all for a heat and eat dinner with shrimp it is hard to get much better then this. Paired with a loaf of crusty bread and a salad this made for an easy and tasty dinner.

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Perugina Chocolate Covered Cherries

I have a system for eating chocolate covered cherries.
I like to bite off the bottom of the base of the candy and "drink" out the filling (I prefer the liquid filled to the creme filled cherries).

The Perugina version is a creme filled one, enrobed in dark chocolate.

The bottom of the one I tried was a little sticky-as if some of the creme had oozed out at some point and the chocolate smelled sweet. Biting into the cherry the base came off cleanly and it was sweet- it's was diabetes in a chocolate dome sweet.
The "creme" center was pretty much pure sugar mixed with cough syrup as best I could tell. And not good cough syrup!- no, it was like cheap discount, no name cough syrup.

The chocolate sadly, was also entirely too sweet. There was was good thing about this candy and that was the cherry it's self. Somehow it managed to be the only part of the candy that wasn't drowning in sugar. It was large and plump and had the rest of the candy been better it would have been outstanding.

Personally, I think I am going to stick to Cella's version.


PURCHASED FROM:
Claro's Italian Market

Trader Joe,s Eggplant Parmesan In Fillo Dough

This is a day I thought would never come...
Some days things happen that shake you to the core. Things that make you question the sense of right and wrong in the universe. No, I am not only talking about how Rachel Ray manages to be so damn popular dispite her many culinay atrocities (how many hot dog "recipes" does one person need anyway?).

No, I am talking about the fact that Trader Joes has managed to not only let me down- but to gross me out as well. Tonight I made what I was hoping would be a lovely dinner of TJ's eggplant parm in fillo dough with a side of assorted roasted veggies. Well, at least the roasted veggies were good.

First things first. The eggplant it's self was both mushy and bitter. And it also managed to have no less then 1045838592 jillion seeds per bite. The "sauce" was more like thickened V8 juice- check that thickened wanna-be V8 juice- only it was less good then even that. The prodominate flavor oddly enough was not eggplant was the red peppers. Now, I like red peppers enough. I just didn't want an entire dish of them. I know the picture showed cheese but I will be damned if I found any in the entire package. I feel like I should say at least one nice thing... thinking... thinking... OH! I know! the fillo dough was actually pretty tasty, it is just too bad the filling wasn't.

I can safely say I won't be buying this again but it has inspired me to try making my own version.

PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's

Lazzaroni Bittersweet Chocolate with Amaretti di Saronno Crumbles Bar

During my last trip to Claro's Market I came across this bar.
To be honest I had never had Lazzaroni chocolates- I have had the Amaretti di Saronno and they are DIE for. If you have never had them go and find yourself a box. They are great on their own, crushed as a crust, dunked in coffee, over ice cream... I like them can you tell?

So before I write myself into an amaretti stupor maybe we should talk about the bar.

The bar is a hefty 3.17 ozs and even through the bright red wrapping you can feel the shape of the molded bar. Unwrapped, the chocolate is dark and glossy and has an almost coffee like-aroma. Reading the companies website I found that there is good reason- there is actually Arabica coffee pieces in the bar.

So how did it taste?
Pretty darn good!
First, I don't know what percent the cocoa content is the bar appears quite dark. However, it has a rather surprisingly creamy melt and a sweetness not normal for a dark chocolate. It reminded me of a high end Toll House morsel. The coffee's bitter edge keeps the sweetness in check and also set's off the Amaretti pieces. I LOVED the crunch the Amaretti gave to the bar. In fact my only complaint with the bar is that I wish the Amaretti pieces were bigger!

I don't care how yo do it just get yourself one of these bars!!

PURCHASED FROM:
Claro's Italian Market

Kinder bueno

I have to give thanks to Jim over at Jim's Chocolate Mission for inspiring me to want to try these.
Jim has reviewed both the regular Kinder bueno and the Kinder bueno White and he made the hazelnut filling sound like something that sound definitely not be missed. So when I saw the bar at my Italian grocery today I had to pick it up.

The bueno is made up of two fingers that are about the size of a slightly wider Twix bar. Bonus point's to Kinder for having the fingers individually wrapped inside the foil. The fingers are made up of 4 squat segments of lightly chocolate coated goodness. As far as I could tell it was a milk chocolate- the label on my bar being entirely in Polish didn't exactly help me a lot. Hiding inside of the extremely sweet chocolate is crispy wafer shell that surrounds a dollop of hazelnut creme. I don't know if my bar was just really fresh but I have got to say that the wafer was perfect. It was still crispy enough to break with a satisfying crunch on first bite.
Jim was dead on with the hazelnut filling! Seriously that filling is so good that personally I think it rivals the hazelnut used in the companies Nutella.
I wish I could just get a hold of the hazelnut on it's own!!

The bar as a whole has it's merits- I am not normally a fan of wafers, but if they are always as crisp as the ones in this bar (rather then the chewy, limp, stale wafers one tends to find in candy) I could learn to love them. The chocolate coating was too sweet for my taste but, on a occasion I don't mind. The clear star here is the hazelnut creme.



PURCHASED FROM:
Claro's Italian Market

Coffee-Mate Italian Series Italian Sweet Creme Ltm Edition

Non-dairy coffee goodness!
I like my coffee two ways- either strong and black or light and sweet. More often then not my choice for coffee at home is light and sweet because I can stay in and deal with having dairy creamer.

It was a happy discovery to find this Coffee-Mate, not only is it non-dairy but it taste pretty good!. I am not sure to be honest what makes it Italian sweet creme but it is indeed sweet- I didn't feel the need to add any extra Splenda to my cup and it is very creamy (cremey?).



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

An excellent product for the lactose intolerant- and for everyone else.

Milk N Honees

Milk N Honees are a hard candy with a honey flavored exterior and a milk filled center (Sort of like a Milkful)
I had never seen them until I was hunting through Claro's imported candy section.

These are addictive!
The honey shell melts into a sweet trickle of honey down your throat. The milky center has almost a carmely sweetness to it.

Yum!!


PURCHASED FROM:
Claro's Italian Market

Golia Caramelle Respira

One of the good things about moving back home to SoCal is that I have been able to revisit many of my old foodie stomping grounds.
One of which is a long standing chain of Italian groceries in the L.A. area called Claro's.

Claro's has a rather impressive candy selection at my local store and I picked up a bag of what I thought was licorice.

The small semi-hard lozenges are indeed made with licorice but imagine my surprise when I realized they were very, very strong to the point it made me think they were mentholated!
What I didn't notice on the bag until I had one in my mouth is that it also says "respira" Yes, my lovely bag of licorice was actually a lovely bag of cough drops!

The thing is a mentholy licorice is oddly addicting. Oh, sure I had a pretty big "WTF?!" moment at first but once you get over the shock the licorice it's self is dark and has a deep molasses note to it (yes, once again it reminded me of Panda) there is a little anise working around in there as well. As best I could tell from my limited Italian and the help of Babel Fish there is no actual menthol in the drops but it does have licorice juice (which accounts for the strong flavor) and once you are used to it, it actually reminded me a lot of Sambuca or Anisette. Minus the fact that it stains your tongue a lovely dark brown it did leave my mouth feeling tingly and clean. And while I had no cough to start with I would certainly prefer these over a standard drop any day.

Even if they weren't what I expected I am going to keep a stash of these on hand,

PURCHASED FROM:
Claro's Italian Market