Holy Moley, Bertolli!! (Bertolli's Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Portobello Mushrooms)

I was clearing tables at the Diner yesterday, when a Google ad caught my eye. “Discount Frozen Dinners,” it said…and as we specialize in the deep-freeze at the Diner, naturally I read the rest of the ad. It went on to say:

New and Used Frozen Dinners!
Check out the huge selection now! eBay.com

Look, I’m always in the market for a bargain…but I’m going to pass on the used frozen dinners.

Back to work...

In honor of Italy, Torino, and the XX Olympiad, I thought that we should sample something “Italian” this week, so I kept my eyes peeled during my latest trip to the grocery store. Happily, Bertolli indulged my desires, and I picked up a bag of the newest addition to their “Dinners For Two” line, Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Portobello Mushrooms.

As with all Bertolli Dinners For Two, it’s easiness itself to prepare; basically, you open the bag, heat, stir, heat some more and serve. This isn’t cold fusion. Also like all the other products in this line, the ingredient list is simple and straightforward, so for those folks trying to avoid additives, the Bertolli dinners make it easy for you.

The bag contains sliced grilled chicken breast, fettucine pasta, diced tomatoes and Portobello mushrooms in a creamy alfredo sauce with the barest hint of pecorino romano. There are no surprises. This dish is exactly what your mouth is expecting when you think of chicken alfredo. I thought it needed a smidgen of salt, which I added; if you’re a fan of hard cheeses, you might also wish to add a sprinkle of parmesan or romano, but these are just tweaks to an otherwise really good dish. The chicken is tender, the sauce is well-flavored and has a nice body; the diced tomatoes are surprisingly fresh.

The downside is that each “serving” contains a whopping 710 calories, but, having said that, it served me and the Hubster with enough left over for another meal, not two as stated on the bag. If I were consistently trying to stretch it, I’d add a bagged salad on the side and a loaf of “bake-at-home” crusty French bread from the bakery, and this would easily serve three adults or two adults and a child. (To see full nutritional information, ingredients and macronutrient counts for this meal, click here).

For those of you weight-watching, Bertolli has other Dinners For Two that are significantly lower in fat and calories but still deliver outstanding taste. You can check out reviews of other Bertolli dinners by clicking on the “Bertolli Reviews” link on the right-hand side of this page, and that link will take you to a list where you can research the nutritional information for those dinners as well.

Definitely a winner, and a product on the forefront of the new revolution in frozen cuisine. At the Icebox Diner, this dinner gets a Four-Fork rating.