What's for dinner?

[Robin Garr]

Tomato paella with Bittman's mistakes corrected.

So you peeled the tomatoes (using them unpeeled was a horrible lapse), maybe lost the tomato paste, and cooked it on top of the stove?

[Robin Garr]

Last night I had a really strong pizza jones goin' on, so that's what I did. Unfortunately, I forgot to pick up the mushrooms and only realized halfway into assembling the pizza that I was out of green chile! Drat!

Tonight will be chicken fajitas... the chicken is marinating as I type. Served with some good fresh guac. Mango sorbet for dessert.

What about you?

We had a really light dinner Sunday after a big soul food lunch at a local eatery ... spaghetti with butter and fresh sage, and a simple salad with lots of fresh tomatoes. I think we may have just brought in our 1,000th tomato of the summer.

Instead of the paste, I used a tomato reduction. Yes, used peeled tomatoes, both for the reduction and the topping (why did Bittman leave the peels?). Increased liquid (a nice light, freshly-made vegetable stock). As I mentioned, I went up a bit on the saffron. Instead of parsley, I topped with spinach leaves and eggs near the end of cooking. Partial stovetop, partial oven- when I visited what was supposed to be the oldest, most traditional paella restaurant in Madrid, they used the oven, so that's good enough for me!

So, I was somewhere between you and Bittman, but when I tried it his way, I wasn't thrilled with the results. Thus this modification, with a tip o' the hat in your direction.

[Jenise]

(why did Bittman leave the peels?).

Um, to reduce the # of prep steps by one out of the belief that it would induce more people to try it? (Not that you were really asking.)

I was really asking. It's not like it's a difficult or complex step...

I'll grant that making a tomato reduction instead of using paste is much more of a pian in the ass, but if the dish is going to be about fresh tomatoes, make the dish about fresh tomatoes. I'm happy that he used pimenton instead of paprika, which somewhat restores my faith.

[Jenise]

No, not difficult or complex at all--but that's what I dislike and distrust about Bittman, he seems to cut ingredients and/or steps that would make a dish more authentic or elegant just for the sake of making his recipes easy for idiots. It's like "Cooking for Dummies".