It's only recently come to my attention that peanut butter is largely an American phenomenon. I've heard conflicting stories, but some claim that peanut-based sauces on foreign dishes—such as Pad Thai—is only a recent adaptation and that the authentic dishes in their respective countries of origin are rarely, if ever, made with peanut butter. The USA is routinely among the highest per capita consumers of peanut butter in the world, along with Canada—which just happens to be where this Trader Joe's item is produced.
What's working here: the taste. It's a nice sweet peanut vibe overall. The veggies provide some earthy greens and there's a modest amount of chicken flavor.
What's not working: the portion is too small. Sonia and I shared this for lunch knowing it was a single serving, but I don't think it would have filled me up even if I'd eaten the whole thing. Despite a significant amount of calories, carbs, and sugars in the mix, the dish wasn't very filling. It's not very spicy at all. We would have preferred a bit more heat.
There was nothing unpleasant about the texture, but I would have liked something more to chew on. The ground chicken is pulverized into oblivion and I wouldn't have minded actual peanuts or peanut halves in the mix. It's just a bit too mushy. That said, none of the veggies were stringy or offensive, as bok choy in particular can be sometimes. The noodles had a nice soft feel, too.
$3.49 for the bowl. Despite a few shortcomings, Sonia and I both liked the taste enough that we would buy it again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Spicy Peanutty Noodle Bowl with Chicken. I'll throw out seven stars.
Confession time: despite my love of shrimp, I've only had scampi once or twice in my life prior to this Trader Joe's dish. The carbivore in me generally chooses breaded, fried shrimp over shrimp cocktail or garlic butter shrimp. Still, I've enjoyed shrimp scampi each time I've sampled it, and this instance was no different.
The frozen shrimp all come in a big plastic bag. I neglected to count them, but I'd say the total tally was somewhere in the ballpark of 20-22 shrimp. They're surprisingly large, and they're coated in what appears to be a batter of some sort. At first, I thought TJ's stuck the wrong bag inside my shrimp scampi box. Appearance-wise, they looked very similar to the frozen Shrimp Boom Bah we tried a couple months ago.
Alas, the "batter" was nothing but frozen garlic and lemon butter sauce, which melts off the shrimp and into the skillet as you heat them. These shrimp specimens are indeed unbattered, and the garlic butter and lemon essences give them all the flavor they need. We heated them on the stovetop for about ten minutes, all said and done.
They went great with the Barilla fettuccine we paired them with. I didn't even add any extra seasonings or toppings—not even salt and pepper. The shrimp were flavorful but not fishy—just garlicky and buttery, with a hint of citrus and Romano cheese.
Texture-wise, they were near perfect. Neither rubbery, chewy, or hard, these shrimp were prepared properly, and they had exactly the right mouthfeel. I'd say they were restaurant-quality in almost every way.
$8.99 for the three serving package found in the frozen aisle. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Nine out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Shrimp Scampi.
