Archive for the ‘Linguine’ Category

Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara - Ad

Lean Cuisine Linguine Carbonara

“Hey boss – I’m packing up these Carbonaras, but we’re low on peas and bacon. Should I order more?” “Nah, just give ’em four peas and two little bacon scraps. They’ll never notice.”

I’ve made carbonara myself from scratch; I’ve had it in Italian restaurants; I’ve even eaten it in Italy, where they tend to make pretty decent Italian food. While this (unsurprisingly) doesn’t come close to any of those three experiences, it’s a passable approximation for a frozen box that cooks in three minutes. The sauce has the trademark eggy/cheesy taste of a carbonara sauce, but it’s way too loose. The noodles are too soft too, making this more of a carbonara soup than the thick pile of cheesy pasta that it’s supposed to be.

Looks: 2.5 out of 5 Taste: 3 out of 5

Bertolli Shrimp Scampi and Linguine

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Bertolli Shrimp Scampi and Linguine - Ad

Bertolli Shrimp Scampi and Linguine

Looks: In my experience, Bertolli’s Skillet Meals are always represented quite accurately on the packaging, and the Shrimp Scampi is no exception. While the shrimp don’t quite have the color or heft of the shrimp on the package, and the peppers are overrepresented on the box by about 25%, the overall texture, color, and amount of the food is very close. 4.5 out of 5

Taste: Every time I have one of Bertolli’s Skillet Meals, I am very impressed by the quality. It’s essentially a flash-frozen bag of all the ingredients that you just heat it up in a skillet until the sauce melts, so finding out that the pasta has the right amount of bite and the sauce actually tastes good was quite a surprise. In the Shrimp Scampi, the pasta was perfect, the shrimp weren’t rubbery like frozen shrimp can tend to be, but the peppers were a little bit soggy. 4.5 out of 5