Tarte d’Alsace

Hi guys!!!  I AM BACK!  Well, back for this review I mean.

Man, we got this pizza at the Orlando (Winterpark) Trader Joe’s and as soon as we took our first bites we looked at each other and said, “NOW THIS IS A GOOD PIZZA!” (we might have said something similar to that, I was way too busy eating pizza to write down our exact words).  Have you tried this one??  If you have not, please take a moment now to add it to your shopping list for your next visit to TJ’s.

David misunderstanding "tarte" for "tart"...  

The box says that this is a “French style flatbread with ham, caramelized onion, and gruyere cheese”.  Here is how I cooked this puppy:  heat the oven to 450 degrees for ten minutes, then put the pizza on a baking tray and cook it between 8 – 10 minutes (I cooked it 12 minutes).

Here are our rave reviews:

David – “This is great.  Oh my God.  The HAM is really tasty in a way that makes me think, it’s not the kind of ham you think of, it might be, like, pancetta or something like that.  The gruyere, of course, is a delicious cheese that you seldom run into.  The bread itself is crispy, thin and delightful because of the oil, or butter, the cheese or something – SOMETHING is going on there.  The whole thing is delightful!  Because you think you are gonna get a piece of pizza, ok, pizza, more pizza, oh well…  But then it turns out to be this FLATBREAD!  A flatbread that is soooo tasty, without the leaden weight of an American pizza thing.  Great!  High marks Trader Joe’s!!”

Oh man, looking at the photo makes my mouth water...  I wish we had another one to eat for dinner tonight.

I was trying to figure out the taste I was loving.  I thought maybe there was a béchamel sauce under the cheese or something.  But then I looked at the box and discovered the mystery – crème fraiche!  I think, to me, THAT is what gives it the simply amazing taste.  Well, that PLUS the gruyere.  Well, those two things PLUS the flatbread…  It is the combination of those three things that makes this such a winner.

(One theory that I have is that, as long as they started with those 3 ingredients I just raved about above, they could have topped it off with turds and it would still taste amazing.  Not that I want to SAMPLE that if they do it, mind you, but I’m just saying, with a base of those 3 rockin’ ingredients I might just accept whatever came next.)

The HAM has a nice little bit of salty quality but it is not at all overly salty.  Normally when I eat pizza I add hot pepper or hot pepper flakes to it.  David wanted to add extra mozzarella to this before we cooked it and I convinced him not to.  That was right!  Do NOT add to this masterpiece!  It is the perfect pizza without any messing around needed!!

This flatbread is seriously worth every penny of the $4.49

One weird thing about this item is that it is branded as being made by “Maître Pierre”.  Normally any French style stuff at TJ’s is branded “Trader Jacques” so that freaked us out a bit.  What’s up with that, Joe??  Anyone from corporate reading and can comment??

Quick side note here:  so we have been luxuriating in Florida for a month now.  It is almost time for our 14 hour drive back to real life.  Yes, cold winter looms.  But so does quick, easy access to TRADER JOE’S!!  We have missed it.  We brought lots of wine from TJ’s with us when we came to Florida, but not enough to last a whole month.  We had to break down and buy wine at the local Florida supermarket (Publix) this week! 

Look!  We don't ONLY shop at Trader Joe's!  We went to Ikea in Orlando.

I wanted to show you our new exciting stuff from Ikea!  The Florida house is very “beachy” – it is a block and a half from the ocean.  Because it is a vacation home, it is painted in what we think of as VACATION COLORS!  It is bright, bright, bright!  And now there is a kitchen cabinet to match it all!  Check out the new Ikea STUVA!!! 

David, in unmatched jammies, with the flatbread, in front of the Stuva.  What a combination!

It is designed to be a piece of furniture in a kid’s bedroom, but who says it is limited to that!  We have had it in the kitchen here 2 weeks now and it is working great!  We also got the little cutting board/table thing next to it and a butcher block to go on top of it.  Yeah, we went a little Ikea crazy…

The Stuva open - David loves the pull out wire drawer.  The dining room is the same color green as the Stuva.

The new wooden stand.  This is after we put beeswax treatment on the top of it, and before David went a little wacko and covered the whole entire thing with the treatment stuff...  Note the TJ's cider!!  

If you want to see more about the beach house or consider renting it for your vacation, check it out here:  Hibiscus House website

Back to the flatbread:  granted, we were hungry when we ate this item.  But we loved it.  We both give it a rating of 5.  We will for sure be having it again when we get back to Trader Joe’s land. 

It was fun “talking” with you guys again.  Have fun grocery shopping!

P.S. - I somehow messed up the formatting/template of this blog.  Sigh.  It doesn't look the same anymore, does it??  I have tried to get it back to how it used to be but to no avail.  Is it ok like this? Still readable? 

Price – $4.49

Rating - 5