Seared Fish with Tomato Water with Herbs and Olives

Page: www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/seared-blackfish-with-tomato-water-herbs-and-olives-recipe.html?ref=dining

Cuisine: North American | Course Type: Main Courses

(1 review)

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Recipe Review

This was disappointing. Very easy to execute with very clear directions for making the tomato water and searing the fish. But -- at the end of the day -- boring. The tomato flavor I was looking forward was just not there. I used ripe plum tomatoes and I suspect this would have been better with beefsteak or heirloom tomatoes. But I am underwhelmed enough not to have much interest in trying again.

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Comments

Queezle_Sister - 29th August 2011
I read that article, too, and found myself somewhat skeptical of tomato water, it seemed like you'd throw away the best part. What do you think - poor recipe or is tomato water a poor concept?
That spanish tomato toast your reviewed - and I tried (several times now) - made me think about the tomato water as I was grating the tomato. That grated tomato gave amazing tomato taste - maybe more than the tomato sliced. How similar to "tomato water"??

aj12754 - 29th August 2011
I think the grated tomato is definitely more flavorful than the tomato water. For this recipe I think it would work much better -- and involve less pre-planning -- than tomato water.

BUT -- my friend Soupereasy is really a much better trained cook than I am (me --mostly trial and error; she's had some very good teachers along the way) and she says that tomato water can be very flavorful and delicious, but only with the very best, ripest tomatoes you can find. My plum tomatoes were ripe but probably not as flavorful as some other tomato types. The recipe would have been better had it specified a particular type..

And I agree with you -- why toss so much of the good stuff? Kind of like tossing the baby and keeping the bathwater.

Queezle_Sister - 29th August 2011
What a perfect analogy! We'll just have to try more recipes, eh?

aj12754 - 29th August 2011
Absolutely! I have a few of your recent successes marked to try :-)

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