(no subject)

[coraa]

Cook's Illustrated taught me that if you can't get good fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes are better for most (not all) applications than mediocre fresh tomatoes. This is doubly true if you have time to roast the canned tomatoes, to concentrate and slightly caramelize the flavors. I used this lesson tonight in making World's Easiest Bruschetta (canned crushed tomatoes, roasted at 350 for an hour or so [long enough to largely dry them out, but -- this is important -- not entirely] and then broiled for 5 minutes, mixed with an equal quantity of decent-quality olive tapenade [you can make your own, but then it's not World's Easiest anymore], and spread on well-toasted rounds of bread). It was also pretty darn healthy, especially since the tapenade I used didn't have too much salt or oil.

Unfortunately, all the cooking I do, combined with my general clumsiness, means I burn myself a lot. At least I don't cut myself, I guess. Ow.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/selina_/]

I really really like tinned tomatoes. Are they tabooed?

[coraa.livejournal.com]

No, not at all. I mean, I wouldn't use canned tomatoes in a green salad or something else that's a really fresh-tomato application, but for anything where I'd use cooked tomatoes, I find canned to be a perfectly good substitute.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

We've only roasted fresh tomatoes... roasting canned ones sounds like a wonderful idea. Does one retain the juice in the can, or drain it?

[coraa.livejournal.com]

It depends. For something like whole canned tomatoes, or large dice, where the liquid is thin and translucent, I drain (and also wind up cooking less, because there's less moisture to drive off). Otherwise nothing's going to cook/caramelize until all that boils off, which means it'll take forever. If it's crushed, stewed, ground or otherwise thoroughly smooshed tomatoes, though, where the liquid is pulpy and thick and has some body, I'll include some of the liquid and let that cook down too.

Mostly I want to get it boiled down to where it's moist but more pulpy than liquidy, to concentrate the flavors, and then hit it with the broiler to get some browning going.

[sithjawa.livejournal.com]

That sounds very tasty. Darn it, I have to do more work, not go home and make dinner! :)

[porfinn.livejournal.com]

That's funny, considering I am the queen of slice and dice-ing my fingers, but not so big on the burning. I am not especially clumsy, but I do move way too fast, so that is probably a liability with regards to pointy objects. It also doesn't help that I have incredibly high pain thresholds, so I don't care as much as I should. Perhaps that is also why I don't burn myself, I don't notice it happening. What's odd is that I can move hot pans and things about the kitchen that are allegedly too hot for delicate mathgeek fingers, but toasted bagels always are too hot to take away from the toaster! Without fail, I will take the toasted bagel out and be inconvenienced by a odd sensation that takes me a moment or two to accept as pain. Handling toasted bagels should not hurt more than moving a cast iron pan about, but they do! Stupid, annoying things!

[coraa.livejournal.com]

My wound from last night came from pulling cast-iron out from under the broiler. I used a potholder, but it slid a little and I wound up with the heel of my hand right in contact with 500F metal. Ow!

Most of my scars come from cooking, one way or another.

[linley.livejournal.com]

I also tend to burn rather than cut myself.

Muir Glen now sells fire-roasted canned tomatoes. I have not tried them.

[coraa.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting. I use Muir Glen tomatoes most of the time already, but I hadn't noticed those. I should check it out.

[coraxery.livejournal.com]

Peeled tomatoes are always superior to non-peeled for tomato sauce, and for the blended part of Gazpacho (IMO). So if you have a hard time peeling them (cut an x in the fresh tomato, boil and then peel after an ice bath) you are better off using canned tomatoes.

And for the bison steak, bison is incredibly lean meat, so always cook to a degree less than what you normally prefer. (well-done cook medium, medium cook just the other side of rare)

Nice blog by the way! :)

[coraa.livejournal.com]

I usually don't mind the work of peeling tomatoes as such, but canned are a lot more convenient if I want to get dinner on the table quickly, like after work.

I'll definitely be cooking my meat rarer next time I try bison!

Thank you!