Simple Early Summer Grilled Cheese

Some nights, we're just too busy to cook. On these nights, it's best to rely on simple fare to get us through. This works especially well in the early summer when we have lots of fresh ingredients on hand. But, even on nights when we don't have a whole lot of food in the house, we sometimes surprise ourselves.

The other evening was one of those nights. We both worked late, and came home exhausted. Paul had studying to get done, and the night was getting short. Dinner felt like a complete chore.

Fortunately, I had my wits about me and a few staples in the fridge.

We started out with some good, local, wholegrain sourdough bread and a bit of locally produced aged provolone cheese. A trip out to the garden produced a few healthy sprigs of sweet basil. After putting everything together and giving it a quick press with the panini grill, we had a pretty stunning sandwich. OK -- two sandwiches.Add a bit of the leftover basil to a bowl of simple tomato soup from the pantry, and dinner was served.

Lesson learned. Something as ordinary as fresh basil transforms something as simple as a grilled cheese sandwich into something extraordinary. Add a bit more basil to a can of plain Jane tomato soup, and you have nothing short of a masterpiece.



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