Dinner (June 29th, 2009)

The wine and cheese department where I work at my store is right next to the prepared foods department, where they make panini all day long. I love panini, but don't eat them that often for some reason, so I decided that I was going to make them for dinner tonight.

I picked up all the ingredients I needed after work...

• Tomato Soup
  
• Provolone Cheese
• Ciabatta Rolls
• Hot Pickled Giardiniera (spicy pickled Italian vegetables in oil)
• Pesto
• Prosciutto

So, even though it's about a billion degrees in Houston, TX right now, I still had to get the soup...a sandwich can't be dinner without a soup. I wish I had the time to make fresh pesto (it's a food that I grew up with and one of my very favorite things), but I wanted things to be quick.


I spread some pesto on the bottom piece of bread, then added a slice of provolone and topped that with several slices of prosciutto. I mounded on some chopped up giardiniera (gawd that sounds like some kind of STD), then put another slice of cheese on top before capping it off with the top piece of bread.


I made a simple green salad to go along with the soup and sandwich, and served it all with one of my favorite wines - Neil Ellis "Sincerely" Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa. This is a consistently delicious wine that is relatively widely available for between 10 and 15 dollars a bottle. This evening, I was struck by how green the flavors were...grass, green bell pepper, watermelon rind, herbs. It was a refreshing and interesting complement to the rest of the meal.

All in all this was a nice meal, but nothing special. The tomato soup was very disappointing and I would not recommend it to anyone, nor will I ever buy it again. It was thin and lacked flavor, character and seasoning. The panini were good, but I wished they had more of a homemade flavor...oh well, I guess that's what you get for quick and dirty. It sure does look pretty on that plate, though, with that glass of wine sitting next to it...doesn't it?

Well, I hope you enjoyed...leave your comments!