Trader Joe's Spanish Lentils with Vegetables

January 1, 2008 | Reviewer: Andrew

Trader Joe Price: $2.00 on sale
Serving: 1/2 tray, 7oz.
Calories: 160 per serving
Fat: 6%, 4g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 20%, 490mg
Protein: 10g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 23g
Fiber: 36%, 9g
Sugar: 4g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Per Serving

Trader Joe says: This classic Northeastern Spanish dish from the Rioja area can be enjoyed tapas style with many other savory dishes or just enjoy on its own. The lentils are slow cooked in a broth called Sofrito, made with tomatoes, oil, onion, and red and green peppers. Ole!

Andrew says: Ole! Indeed! But someone should tell this dish that spitting is unkind and frowned upon in polite society. When I opened this shelf-stable plastic pack of sloshy, soupy lentils and veggies, it spit beans and tasty-smelling sauce on my hand and the table. And then when I heated it up in the microwave, the dish proceeded to spurt more of the Sofrito all over the microwave’s turntable dish.

But even with the spillage, there was plenty of smoky, spicy, warm Sofrito for my beans and pepper bits to bathe in. In fact the dish was a lot more soupy than I was expecting. After a few brothy slurps of beans and decently flavorful peppers, I got out my Garden Salsa Sun Chips and proceeded to dip them in the soup. This was a great way to enjoy my chips and soup. I recommend doing this with any chips you like.

The soup itself, sans chips, is also fairly enjoyable, but it gets a bit boring after a while. I love beans in general, and lentils are small but robust and make me feel like I’m eating a lot even when I’m not eating that much. And there are a lot of lentils in this. And the sauce, while pleasant, kind of overwhelms everything a bit with its smoky warmth and there’s not a lot of variety in the flavors going on. It’s OK, but, you know, it’s just OK. This would be great with some other stuff, some meats and cheeses and salads and what not, but by itself it’s just a bit too homogeneous to hold my attention without delicious chips.