I made the chicken/bacon/spinach pasta last night and think I screwed it up.

M

marilynfl

Moderator
It calls for 2 cups of diced tomatoes, so I bought a box of Pomi Chopped Tomatoes.

Now, put down whatever you're doing (or should be doing, but you're here instead) and look at the link.

Did you look?

Okay, doesn't that image LOOK like diced tomatoes?

Sure did to me.

But when I poured out 2 cups, it was like crushed tomatoes. I cooked it (with the garlic) for about 5 minutes trying to reduce it down.

But the end result of the pasta dish was overly tomato-y. And not in a good way.

It ran rough-shod over the delicate spinach and even suppressed the bacon flavor.

I could barely taste the chicken.

I was so looking forward to this dish.

Hope springs eternal, though. It's sitting in the refrigerator and I'm going to try it reheated.

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I just read the reviews for this product on Amazon. It rates almost a perfect 5 stars.

You may have gotten a bad batch. Next time, use Muir Glen diced tomatoes, or even Fire Roasted would be great. Try it again, though, you will love it.

 
Since the tomatoes get cooked a bit in this dish, winter romas work pretty well. I

had a pretty little carton of mixed small heirlooms and diced them.
Too bad about the tomatoes you got. I buy the supermarket generic diced tomatoes all the time and they are good, I think

 
I had the same experience when I made cioppino using the Pomi chopped. As you can see at the link,

I commented on the tomatoey taste and below that how thick they were. They were definitely more crushed than chopped. I won't buy that brand again.
Edited to say the irony isn't lost on me that I'm saying tomatoes taste too tomatoey. But as Marilyn said, it wasn't in a good way.

http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=247065

 
Cooks Illustrated Taste Test winner was Hunt's Diced Tomatoes.

The Pomi Chopped were eliminated during the initial blind taste test so they were not reviewed. Interestingly enough, the Hunts Petite Diced were reviewed and not recommended.

 
I just made the spaghetti & chicken dish 4 the first time last night 4 supper w/ a couple tweaks==>

I decided to use a full pound of angel hair pasta so I increased everything else to approximately 1-1/2 the amounts listed in the recipe PLUS I added 1 pound of freshly sliced mushrooms sautéed in the bacon grease (I also sauted the chicken breasts in bacon grease), and I added about 12 oz. of blanched broccoli florets.
I used a 28-oz can of Red Gold diced tomatoes (grown & canned here in Indiana--see link below) and had no problem with the final product being overpowered by too intense a tomato taste.

The recipe was DELICIOUS (thanks, Cyn!), but I have ended up agreeing with Pat's assessment--next time I will double everything when using 1 pound of angel hair including the broccoli in order to have a higher ratio of the "good stuff" to pasta. (I do think 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of mushrooms will be ample, though.)

And next time I also plan to include some shallots per Pat's suggestion. I didn't have any on hand, or I would have diced and thrown a couple into the mix last night.

I'm already looking forward to leftovers this evening, and I've only just eaten lunch!

http://www.redgoldtomatoes.com/products/detail/red-gold-diced-tomatoes

 
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