Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the input.
@heidih, I store my potatoes in the refrigerator. I had a really bad experience / experiment during school days, trying to sprout a potato with toothpicks and a jar of water. The smell was indescribably bad; hard to believe the smell was coming from a non-meat source. But maybe I'll try storing the potatoes on the counter. Correct, hard potatoes are not a consistent issue.
@chromedome, I used "crushed tomatoes and puree." Ingredients list doesn't include calcium chloride, but does include "citric acid." Good idea to hold off on adding the tomato sauce. I do kind of depend on the tomato sauce for cooking liquid (for the potato), but maybe I can just add extra water.
@gfweb, sounds like you really did experiment with this. Now that you mention it, one of my pre-potato ingredients was a fair amount of balsamic vinegar.
I would appreciate even more input. I really like this combo of tomatoes and potatoes and will continue to cook them together. Just trying to cut out the extra step of boiling / parboiling.
