Neither Sonia nor I grew up with couscous at all. I remember they served it in the dining commons at college once in a while. Some of the international students I knew would get moderately excited about it, so I decided to give it a whirl. It's not bad. It's a great substitute for rice or orzo, it has an interesting texture, and it goes great with Mediterranean meals.
Apparently couscous is indigenous to North Africa. It's usually a little buttery and salty, sorta fluffy texture-wise, and is a decent source of protein. The beautiful wifey and I have had pearled couscous several times, including the couscous formerly known as Trader Joe's Israeli Couscous. I prefer pearled, personally. The grains are larger and a tad firmer. We had some recently with one of our Hello Fresh meals that came with the ingredients for a garlic butter sauce. That might have been the best couscous I've ever had.
Sonia prefers the regular kind, and she's particularly enthused that this product is organic. She whipped up a batch in our latest video, posted below. It required only butter, salt, and water. The entire process took less than 10 minutes, and the results were pleasant but mostly unmemorable by my reckoning. Sonia ate some plain while I tried it with a Mediterranean style chicken and garbanzo salad.
$1.79 for 12 oz. Sonia would buy Trader Joe's Organic Couscous again, while I'd seek out the pearled kind before repurchasing this particular item. Six out of ten stars from me. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey.
All things considered, Trader Joe's Canned Calamari Pieces in Olive Oil are a better introduction to the magical world of edible squid than Trader Joe's Crispy Battered Calamari, despite what my initial instincts would have told me.
This product is just a tad chewy, but it's head and shoulders above the fried version, texture-wise. Both products have a pretty nice flavor in my opinion, but I think this one might just edge out the competition in terms of taste, as well, despite the crispy battered goodness coating the other product.
The tin contains 2.82 oz of bite-sized squid pieces, sourced off the coast of Spain. They're packed in olive oil and salt, and they're ready for consumption straight out of the can. Apparently the species is known as "jumbo squid" or Humboldt squid. They're much larger than the normal little squids but not as big as the giant ones that can attack submarines and eat unsuspecting swimmers in the open ocean.
I tried them plain and also on a simple arugula salad. Looking forward to trying them with Spanish rice and maybe in a pasta dish. If you've got any other ideas, let us know in the comments.
$3.99 for the single serving can. Would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Tinned Calamari Pieces in Olive Oil. Sonia will go with seven out of ten.
