Modern Table Meals

A while ago, I was given samples of Modern Table Meals to try out.  These weren't necessarily high on my list of exciting items, as, well, they were meals, not baked goods, candies, sweets, breakfast items, snack foods ... you know, the stuff I normally review.

But, being a good blogger, I took the samples, and knew I'd get to them eventually.

Modern Table Meals makes a variety of gluten-free bean based pastas and meal kits.  The plain pasta is available in 3 varieties: confetti ( tri-colored penne and rotini made from green lentils, red lentils, and black beans), green lentil penne, and mixed lentil penne (green and red lentils).  Because the pasta is bean based, it is high protein, so you don't need to necessarily worry about adding in a protein to your pasta dishes.

In addition to the base pastas, they also make 6 different meal kits, which are what I tried out. 

I wasn't really a fan of any of the varieties of pasta or meal kits I have tried, but, friends I shared them with enjoyed them.  If you are gluten-free, or just caring about having lower carb, higher protein pasta options, check them out.

Meal Kits

Modern Table Meals makes 6 different styles of meal kit: Italian, Teriyaki, Mediterranean, Pesto, Southwest, and Homestyle Mac & Cheese. The meal kits all include pasta, dehydrated veggies, a sauce packet, and additional seasoning to sprinkle on top, and they are ready in 15 minutes, all you need to add is water and oil. They also have suggestions for additional ingredients to amp it up.

The meal kits:

• Teriyaki, with white bean and broccoli based noodles, carrots, bell peppers, teriyaki, and sesame 5-spice.
• Southwest, with red lentil rotini, black beans, corn, roasted tomato sauce, and chilli lime seasoning.
• Pesto, with green lentil penne, carrots, peas, pesto sauce, and citrus herb seasoning.
• Mediterranean, with green lentil rotini, leeks, bell peppers, garlic herb sauce, and citrus seasoning.
• Italian, with red lentil penne, bell peppers, carrots, roasted red pepper sauce, and parmesan herb seasoning.
• Homestyle mac and cheese, with green lentils, carrots, peas, and creamy white cheddar sauce.

We tried all of them, but I only have notes for a handful.

Mediterranean: Kit Contents.

The first kit we tried was the Mediterranean.  The Mediterranean kit, like all kits includes pasta (still in the bag), a sauce mix with dehydrated veggies, and a seasoning kit.

This variety featured green lentil rotini, garlic herb sauce mix with dehydrated veggies (spinach, garlic, shallots, chives, leeks, red bell pepper, and carrots), and additional citrus seasoning (salt, garlic, lemon peel, red bell pepper, onion, citric acid).

Preparation is pretty simple.  Step one?  Boil water, add pasta, cook for 8-9 minutes.  Standard pasta cooking instructions.  With all the bean pastas, we found that erring on the side of al dente is necessary, else, you wind up with mush.

Step 2: Make the sauce.

While the pasta is cooking, you make the sauce, simply mixing water and olive oil with the provided packet.

Step 3: Toss.

Next, drain the pasta, and mix in the sauce.  Let it set for 2 minutes, while you open the seasoning packet.

Step 4: Season.

Sprinkle the final seasoning on, or mix it in, or let your diners add it as they please.  And ... that is it.  

So, how was this?  Well, I didn't really like any of their pastas, and this was no different.  A bit of a strange texture, and, well, it tastes kinda like beans.  I'm also not a fan of the oil based sauce.  When I have pasta, I want a "real" sauce.  And the topping packet?  Way too acidic for me.

So, I didn't like it at all.  But, my father, a very picky eater, said, "it is okish".  And he took seconds.  Maybe he was just hungry and being polite?  My housemate, on the other hand, really liked it.  He took seconds.  He took thirds.  He even said, "I know there is just a little bit left and I'm so full, but I really like it!"  He praised the flavor.  I was stunned.

The meal kits are designed to be served hot, but, I really thought this one was better cold. As my mom put it, it is "glorified Suddenly Salad", if you've ever made those before ...

Italian: Sauce Mixed Up.

After the success (for some) of the Mediterranean, I made the Italian a few weeks later when friends came over for dinner. This one had red lentil penne, bell peppers, carrots, roasted red pepper sauce, and parmesan herb seasoning.

The process was the same: I boiled water for the pasta, mixed up the sauce packet with oil and water, and waited my 8-9 minutes.

Italian: Final Dish.

After the pasta was ready, I mixed in the sauce, and sprinkled in all the seasoning.  Perhaps I should have left it on the side for the guests to mix in as they pleased?  I also opted to serve this with fresh grated parmesan on the side.

Everyone was impressed with the texture of the pasta, commenting that it was like a hearty whole wheat pasta.    One reviewer was impressed that it wasn't too salty, a common problem with meal kit items.

Overall, everyone thought it would make a good base for a meal, but needed more to it.  One diner said they would add mushrooms for sure.  When I gave this person a bag of the plain lentil penne to experiment with at home, the response was immediately "I'm excited to try this!"

Teriyaki: Final Dish.

Next, we moved on to the teriyaki, with white bean and broccoli based noodles, carrots, bell peppers, teriyaki, and sesame 5-spice seasoning.

Again, the process for creating the meal was similar, although the cook time on these noodles was even shorter, only 5 minutes.  This is also the only kit that uses bean based noodles rather than lentil.

This one looked much better than the others, full of vibrant colors.  My fellow diners all mentioned that it had "nice visuals" and "lots of color".  They also appreciated the two types of noodles in here, but felt that the lentil penne had better texture.

Overall, this one was not a winner, as tasters had a hard time with the concept of the dish itself.  They just felt that teriyaki on pasta was weird.