Tomatoes, Basil and Mozzarella

Tonight's dinner is in part thanks to Slice: America’s Favorite Pizza Weblog and in part because I did not want to fathom eating another cilantro inspired meal for the third day in a row. We started with a simple Caprese Salad. With only 4 ingredients you better make sure you're using fresh, high quality ones. It's still a little early for the tomatoes to be anywhere near their peak, but this was still good. Eating large slabs of mozzarella in extra virgin olive oil is a simple pleasure that doesn't come with the same drawbacks as, say, a blooming onion.

I had decided on calzones for dinner tonight, so obviously I had to make up some dish Italian Tomato Sauce. Normally I like to put roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes or both into my tomato sauce, but this time I used red onions and red wine. The flavor was very rich and pronounced and I don't regret the decision one bit. It was another great use for the bunch of fresh basil I purchased, too.

So, Calzones. I can honestly say that the calzones rendered in my kitchen tonight were by the far the best calzones I've ever eaten. The dough was perfectly crisp and flaky, the meat was perfectly spicy and the cheese was perfectly melted. This was my first time ever making calzones and I was amazed at how easy it was. Not only easy, but fast. Just like the biscuits the dough was ready to go almost immediately after mixing and 15 minutes later I had dinner; and what a dinner it was! This was a simple 2 dish dinner, but it's definitely getting a vote into the all-time favorites list from both Shannon and I.

Buon Appetito!