Trader Joe’s Organic Italian Artisan Pasta Orecchiette

The pros:  Trader Joe’s Organic Italian Artisan Pasta Orecchiette is one of three new pastas on Trader Joe’s shelves. All three are labeled as organic and kosher.

The cons:  Mine took closer to 18 minutes to reach an al dente texture. Be sure to test before draining these.

The verdict:  So if you’ve been near the new product end caps then you might have noticed the addition of three new pastas: Capunti, Gigli, and this bag of orecchiette. Now, those are odd products to roll out in the month of January. I figured there would be more health centered items like last years individual cups of oatmeal: strawberry and cherry. Nope, three new pastas and a new pasta sauce. So when my husband was craving broccoli rabe I decided to pair it with these “little ears.”

Now these little ears or orecchiette have nice little ridges on the outside of them so that sauce will cling to the outside. Butter, oil, or sauce will standup well to this pasta as the inside is almost clam like in shape. Now, I can’t honestly say I could taste a difference between the organic pastas and the regular ones. Bummer, because at $2.69 these aren’t cheap, but they aren’t a common shape either. These do have that handmade look to them.

Regardless of their shape and organic ingredients, these well, still taste just like pasta. The key thing I’ve learned from trying a whole bunch of different pastas from Trader Joe’s is that the cooking time is always somewhat suspicious to me. I’m never quite sure where they are testing their pastas when they give directions. I’m not sure if they are at sea level or perhaps twenty thousand leagues under the sea level when they make these directions. According to google, I live only 82 feet above sea level so cooking directions should match the package. At 15 minutes, these were still too crunchy to remove from water.

Mine took 18 minutes to al dente. Because of their shape you might get a little half moon of under cooked pasta. So be sure to test, test, and retest. So many of the specialty pasta were off in their directions. Not trying them will leave you with a less than desirable effect. It was a tasty and unique shape. It won’t end up in the cart on a regular basis, but perhaps for special occasions when we need a break from the 99 cent pasta.

Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:

The bag of Trader Joe’s Organic Italian Artisan Pasta Orecchiette:

The nutritional information, the ingredients and how to prepare:

After being cooked and mixed with some broccoli rabe you get:

Would I buy this again? Yes, while Trader Joe’s Organic Italian Artisan Pasta Orecchiette is pricey and the directions are off, it is a special looking pasta. Oil clung nicely to the pasta that was was tossed with the broccoli. So I might buy these from time to time.

Want to see more items I’ve reviewed from Trader Joe’s? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.

Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!