When I first saw Wild Mushroom and Black Truffle Flatbread in the Trader Joe's freezer section I thought "wow that sounds delicious." But honestly, it was a little underwhelming. Actually a lot underwhelming. It's flavorful, but one-dimensional. It lacks an acidic component necessary to counterbalance the truffles, and there are no toppings (well except for the brown mushroom puree and stingy sprinkling of mozzarella) to make it more substantial. My mom keeps saying "it's a flatbread, it doesn't have the same qualities as a pizza." Well too bad, I want it to be a pizza.
Also, I call it stupid because the cooking time listed on the box is completely wrong. It varies depending on your oven, but I almost need to double what they recommend just to get the crust cooked through. While I'm on the subject, Trader Joe's cooking directions are always wrong and should only be followed if you like eating raw/cold food.
Here are the toppings I add that perfectly compliment the existing truffle flavor. You don't need much of each, since the flatbread is pretty small.
Thinly sliced vine tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes (this ingredient is crucial, I don't even enjoy the flatbread without this tangy addition)
Thinly sliced white onion
Sliced white mushrooms (white mushrooms are pretty unassuming and won't make the existing wild mushrooms/truffle flavor too strong, they're mainly for texture)
2-4 cloves roasted garlic, sliced*
Handful of arugula leaves
Extra mozzarella cheese, if you want
* You can use roasted garlic from a jar, or make your own. I used Christopher Ranch fresh roasted garlic.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange everything but the garlic and arugula evenly on the frozen flatbread. Set your oven timer for 10 minutes, then check the progress. It probably won't be done, but maybe your oven runs hotter than mine. Let it bake another 4-6 minutes, then add the arugula and roasted garlic on top. Bake an extra minute or two - the arugula will shrivel but don't let it disintegrate.
Here's what the flatbread looks like without any help:
And here's mine:
No contest, right??
Oh, and it's supposed to feed a couple people, but I slice it into quarters and eat 3/4 in one sitting. Whatever.
Wow, what a snarky blog post. There is nothing wrong with Trader Joe's flatbread. It's a FLAT BREAD. I just came from being in Italy for two months and this is how they do truffle pizza - truffles and cheese. No tomatoes, onions or any of that crap because it makes it too busy. Truffles are pricey, why would you want to disguise their taste with all these other ingredients you just listed??
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteI’m wondering if this flatbread is actually vegetarian. It says the cheese has “enzymes” and doesn’t specify what type of enzymes. Other TJ brand pizzas say “microbial enzymes”. I wonder if this has animal enzymes such as rennet, whereas it would not be vegetarian. Thanks!
ReplyDelete