ROTTEN TOMATOES

posted by James Reel

    A friend alerts me that Connie Tuttle has besmirched my culinary reputation in her latest contribution to the Tucson Weekly:

    James Reel inspired this column. I recently ran into the Weekly arts editor at Trader Joe's. We exchanged the usual social chatter and then went on our separate shopping ways until I spotted him reach for a can (gasp!) of marinara sauce and place it in his cart.
    People ... I know it's summer, and the heat is not conducive to cooking, but making a sauce from scratch takes approximately three minutes more than opening a can (not counting cooking time).

    You can find the entire column here, but first allow me to defend myself. First, I bought the marinara (organic, by the way, and in a jar, not in a can) under orders from my wife, who likes to keep the stuff on hand for use when we’re short of time or ingredients. (Note Connie's caveat: scratch takes only thee minutes longer than opening a can, "not including cooking time"!) Me, I generally use fresh tomatoes in my sauces. And by the way, what, exactly, was Connie doing in that aisle, which holds only canned goods? Why, buying canned tomatoes, it turns out. Read the first recipe she offers, and there they are: canned tomatoes—in the summer, for crying out loud! If Connie were serious, she’d be using her own home-grown tomatoes, or at least driving down to Willcox to buy some fresh off the vine. Oh, the hypocrisy!