$5.49 gets you two passion fruit meringue tarts imported from France. I guess "tartelette" is the French word for "little tart," but I mean honestly, they're not all that small if we're talking single serving desserts.
Super easy. Thaw Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes for two hours in the fridge and you've got some world-class desserts ready to serve. Sonia and I shared just one of the tarts during the recording of our video review, and we were both plenty satisfied. We did share the second one later in the day. We knew they wouldn't last long even if we were attempting to exercise self-control.
Because these are simply scrumptious. The crust is buttery and dense, sweet, and bready. It's a little hard to cut through with a fork if it's not completely thawed, but once you start chewing it, it simply melts in your mouth.
The filling is at least as good, flaunting a sweet-tart tropical flavor that's unique and enjoyable. We love that passion fruit puree is the number one ingredient, and it absolutely comes through in the tangy taste. The meringue on top is smooth and eggy. It adds a bit of deliciousness to the flavor profile, but we think it's there more for presentation than anything else.
And I mean, the presentation is absolutely stellar. Considering this product has traveled all the way from France, and then from Trader Joe's all the way to our house, these tarts are very pretty. They both look and taste like they came fresh from a professional French bakery.
Sonia will go with nine out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes, found in the frozen section. Limited time only. I'll give these little tarts eight and a half stars, making these desserts a near-miss for our best-of-the-best category. We'd definitely buy these again.
Just look at that box. Not particularly fancy. I mean, it's a nice shot of the product. In fact, the product photo on the box is much nicer than our prepared pasta looked IRL. But there's not much in the way of fancy designs or bold colors. No cartoon characters or vintage Victorian illustrations. It's as if to say "this product is what it is."
And what is Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta? It's a single large serving of pasta that'll run you $3.79. Unfortunately, it's not as tasty as it looks. I mean, it's not terrible either. Yes, this is going to be one of those well-balanced reviews that people disdain. The kind where people used to pile in the comments section with statements like "I totally disagree with your review" and you can't even tell whether that means they hated the product or loved it.
The preparation instructions do offer a microwave option, but we went with the conventional oven in this case. It says heat from frozen at 375° for 20 minutes. The core of the dish wasn't even close to the proper serving temp after 20 minutes, so we left it in for an additional five and that did the trick.
The pasta came out a bit limp and soggy. We got an odd bite or two with stringy artichoke, but other than that the texture was fine. Sonia pointed out that the cheese felt more like a thin sauce than actual melted cheese. The mozzarella, parmesan, and Swiss yielded a pleasant, mild flavor that got the job done, but there was an abundance of citrusy lemon in the mix that overshadowed most everything else.
Visually, the spinach appeared to be well-represented, but it didn't impact the flavor as much as we'd hoped. There were only a few bites where I noticed artichoke, and the texture of the vegetable was stringy and overly chewy. Still, the vast majority of the dish was just soft pasta and a velveteen coating of cheeses.
Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta was enough for both Sonia and me for lunch one day this past week. It says one serving, but it was more than adequate for two in our case. It could easily act as a side dish for four or more people if you've got another entree to serve. Honestly, it's a pretty decent value for $3.79 considering many microwave meals will run you upwards of $5 these days and most are less impressive than this offering.
This is the kind of thing I would have stocked up on in my college days in an effort to save money. I'd stretch each one to two meals and have a bit of salad on the side. Lunch for less than two bucks is hard to come by these days. Seven out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Six and a half out of ten stars from me.
