It is all in the simmering

Now that summer tomatoes are gone, I am once again faced with canned tomatoes.  No more BLT's and lovely sliced tomato plates.  Just stews and soups and pasta sauces.

If you notice, most of the recipes that call for canned tomatoes include the words....sautee onions, garlic, green pepper, add canned tomatoes, heat for 10 minutes.  Quick.  Tasteless.

I have become a fan of the Hallmark Network Show, Mad Cooking with Lucinda.  She is personable and her food is based on the basics.  And she simmers her sauces.  Not for ten minutes, but for at least thirty.  So I tried it. 

I made a fish stew yesterday.  I chopped my onions and green pepper and started them in some hot oil in my ceramic glazed cast iron dutch oven.  Tossed in some minced garlic from a jar.  When it began to caramelize, I opened two cans of tomatoes (in the pantry I had one can "stewed" and one can diced with garlic and olive oil.)  I lowered the heat to simmer and went to my computer to make some scrapbook pages.  I did also toss in some fresh cilantro.

Much later I added some water and some chunks of flounder.  Trader Joe's had a package of flounder chunks, designed for tacos.  Poured a glass of wine and relaxed from my scrapbooking frenzy (I made 14 pages yesterday for a Christmas gift project....whew). 

Just before serving, I stirred in some red wine vinegar.  I threw a handful of chopped cilantro on top of each serving and then squirted some squeeze-bottle lime juice (the best money-saver around) over it all.

Restaurant quality, thank you very much.

(If you want to add some shrimp or other shellfish....remember to do it at the end so it does not overcook...)