Tiberino Spicy Spaghetti

A gourmet one-pot pasta dish, but is it worth the cost?

One day while surfing the ‘net I stumbled into Tiberino pasta dishes. Lots of intriguing options, all of which can be made in a pot or skillet by merely adding water and cooking for a few minutes. Hmm, I thought, that might make for a good meal in the backcountry, so I made an impulse purchase of 4 different meals. And then they sat forgotten in my pantry for 2 months.

So, my wife and daughter are spending a few days in the Big Apple, and spending my money too, which left me alone with “the boys.” Last night, they surprised me by making their own frozen dinners, so I was left to come up with something for myself. That’s when I remembered the Tiberino packages in the pantry. I decided to test one out.

The one I pulled out was “Spicy Spaghetti Mezzanotte.”

The directions said to bring 3 1/3 cups of water to a boil, then add the contents of the package and to then simmer the contents COVERED for 9 minutes. So that’s what I did.

After 9 minutes it looked like this:

I thought that it looked too watery and simmered it uncovered for another 2 minutes. I should have followed the directions, because the watery sauce did in fact “firm up” once taken off heat. Not a real big deal though.

It was enough to fill a large pasta bowl, but with great effort I was able to eat it all, so I’d consider it a portion for one hungry hiker or two average hikers.

And the taste? Pretty good, but not outstanding. Certainly not enough in the sauce department for me. The meal cost $7.99 on the Tiberino website, and $12.99 on Amazon. I think some of my recipes are better, and certainly cheaper. But I still have 3 more different meals in the pantry, and we’ll give them a chance. It would certainly be a treat if an easy pasta dish that was more fancy than a Lipton or Knorr sides would prove to be worth the cost.

Grade: C