REDUCTION DEDUCTIONS

We were straining canned tomatoes the other evening, separating out the diced stuff to layer atop a couple of pizza crusts, but not willing to waste those good cut-up-tomato juices. I put the juices in a small pot, set it on the stove top and, stirring from time to time, reduced the liquids over high heat. That rendered them thick and syrupy and very proper for dappling over a vegetable-strewn pizza. Tomato juice became a kind of intense tomato glaze that allowed the pizza to stay crisp and not get soggy.

I do some silly-sounding things like that. For example, one pressed-for-time night I strained the liquids out of a couple of cans of Muir Glen Southwestern Black Bean Soup and reduced them in a pot. When the bean liquid thickened, I stirred in some broken-up spicy sausage meat and a little ground beef. Meanwhile, I warmed the black beans in a separate pot. After the meat-liquid mixture was heated through, I stirred it into the beans and added a shake of ancho and jalapeno chile powders. Near-instant chili.

That's my kind of fast food.

cheers,
Andy
2.21.07