Sweet Corn, Burrata and Basil Ravioli

This is a fancy review, because not only does it include a product review, not only does it also include a STORE LOCATION review, but it also includes a GUEST REVIEW!!!  One of my readers, who is also a friend, WARD, asked a looong time ago if I would consider a guest review from him and his wife.  I answered with a resounding YES, because he is a fun guy, a great writer, and because it would be something new and different for the blog!  A fresh point of view!!  

May I present Ward and Ann - the guest reviewers!

So here it is – let’s start with what Ward and Ann have to say about Trader Joe’s Sweet Corn, Burrata and Basil Ravioli:

“This is one of those meal items that has me saying, “It’s good, but it needs … something…” I am talking about Trader Joe’s Sweet Corn, Burrata & Basil Ravioli. The subtitle on the package says, “Creamy ricotta and burrata cheese ravioli filled with sweet corn and basil.”  It comes in a sealed, refrigerated eight-ounce plastic tray with two servings per container. It is not a gluten-free product, nor is it vegan, but it qualifies as vegetarian.

Here is the package

Ann loves ravioli and loves to impulse shop at TJ’s. So, this came into our kitchen, and I made the meal. The ingredient list is long, including mostly recognizable things like durum wheat, cheese, canola oil, sea salt, turmeric, cayenne powder, and microbial enzymes (which I believe are used in cheese-making as a vegetarian substitute for rennet.) At our Trader Joe’s in Rochester, NY, this ravioli package sells for $3.49.  (Editor’s note: Rochester, NY is where I met my sweetheart David!  And on our very first date we went to a grocery store, Wegman’s!  I wish I could say we went to Trader Joe’s, but I don’t think there was one in Rochester at the time, and besides, Wegman’s is a quintessentially Rochester experience…)

Before adding anything else to it, I sampled a plain cooked raviolo. (Yes, raviolo is the singular of ravioli!)  It was good, but not very exciting. The filling was mostly corn, and the corn was fairly coarse and unsweet. Maybe I am spoiled by having the luxury of choice when it comes to seasonal sweet corn in upstate New York. If we get corn that is not tender or sweet enough, it goes into the freezer for soups or stews. The corn in these ravioli would have barely met my soup standards. The cheese and basil part of the filling was fine, but there could have been more of it.

Pretty good price for this item

Now, about the pasta - the casing of these ravioli was rather fragile. As a result, a few of the ravioli spilled their guts in the cooking water (and I was very careful not to overcook – the package directions are clear about not boiling.) So, if this happens when you cook it, make sure you drain through a sieve or colander that will catch all the interior bits that have escaped into the cooking pot.

So, here are my secret magical additives to bring this dish from a 2.5 to a 4.5: greens, chickpeas and garlic. These are my basic go-to additives for many pasta dishes. Sauté some chopped greens like chard, spinach, or rabe until tender. Add minced garlic and cooked chickpeas (canned is okay, but I prefer cooking dry beans in a pressure cooker – less salt and more flavor.) When the veggies are tender, melt in plenty of butter (yes, real butter) and add red pepper flakes and salt to taste. The chickpeas will add a nutty and creamy protein factor. The greens will add a fresh garden goodness. And, well, garlic is garlic.

Ahhh, with Ward's magical enhancements it looks delightful, no?

Drain the ravioli (and whatever filling has spilled out) and add them to the skillet with the other ingredients. Toss and serve onto warmed plates (editor’s note:  warmed plates??  Remind me to eat dinner at Ann and Ward’s house next time we are in Rochester – fancy!) with grated parmesan to sprinkle on top. Ann suggests a wine pairing of Pinot Noir. Since we live near the Finger Lakes, we poured one from Ravines Winery.

Rating:  without Ward’s magical enhancements – 2.5

Rating:  with Ward’s magical enhancements – 4.5  "

And now let’s look at what David and I thought of Trader Joe’s Sweet Corn, Burrata & Basil Ravioli, shall we?   We served it with fresh basil (from our garden) and grated parmesan on top.  It will be interesting (to me anyway…) to see if our tastes are similar to Ann and Ward’s!

David: “These ravioli are very nice.  They are light, a little bland, but the cheese inside is a nice choice to give them some flavor.  I would personally prefer – I mean – the pasta itself is VERY tasty, so it is nice that the sauce doesn’t obfuscate that, but I like a little bit more taste, so I would recommend serving this with sprinkled bacon bits, or a tomato and sausage sauce.  Something that would bring a little more zing to the flavor palate.  But, that is not the ravioli’s job!  Their job is to be the best pasta ravioli they can be!  And since the ingredients are corn and a kind of bland cheese, I think it does a great job.  I give it a 4.0.”

David looks a bit unsure of this product before we tried it...  Aren't the stripes on the raviolis pretty?

And here is my take:  I am glad we added the fresh basil and parmesan, I think those were good with this dish.  The label said that the ravioli included basil, but I couldn’t taste that in it at all (and neither could David).  We served this with just olive oil for a “sauce”, and I think that is the only way to go with it, because the taste is so mild that any other sauce would overpower the ravioli. 

The corn is chunks of corn, which I thought was nice.  This pasta has the problem that other TJ’s raviolis have – how do you safely get them OUT of the pot after they are cooked?   You really need a large slotted spoon to gently remove them, and when we had these we were not in a kitchen that was stocked with one of those.

Overall, I like the taste of these.  I agree with David’s score of 4.0.

Look - we are visiting YET ANOTHER Trader Joe's! 
I think this brings the total to around 33 locations visited in 12 states so far.

And finally, a note about a new to us Trader Joe’s location – the store on West Sand Lake Rd in Orlando:  This was a very nice store.  It was clean, well lit, and well laid out.  The employees were friendly (although none offered to help us).  I did not notice anything really unique about the store, but they did have some cool flamingos at the check-outs.  I asked if those are always up and they said that they had put them up months earlier and just left them, because customers liked them.  😊

Flamingos make anything look more "Florida", even check-out lanes

Orlando Trader Joe's signage

Here is a recap of ravioli scores:

Price:  $3.49

Rating: (average of 6 raters, since Ann and Ward rated it using 2 different cooking techniques) 3.75