Larry and I went to a book signing at Books Inc. last night – Christopher Kimball of Cook’s Illustrated is promoting their new book, Baking Illustrated. I looked through Baking Illustrated, and it looks good – but I was more interested in the third America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook. Mr. Kimball doesn’t seem to be a warm, engaging person. That just may be how he is in crowds, but I wasn’t impressed. Nonetheless, I like Cook’s Illustrated – I think the recipes are as reliable as those in Fine Cooking, just not quite as interesting. One of the recipes in Baking Illustrated got me craving calzones. I found the same recipe on the web site (available to subscribers, I don’t think the recipe ever appeared in the printed issue).
– I cut the six-serving calzone recipe in half, but still only made two calzones. They were huge, and Larry and I just split one between us. They were excellent. The recipe has a couple of variations, but this is the one that appealed to me most. I’ve never made calzones. I skipped the pizza dough part of the recipe, and opted for Trader Joe’s pre-made dough. I hate making pizza dough, and have always just gotten it from a pizza parlor (many sell raw dough). It’s cheap, good and fast.
– The tomato sauce for the calzones was really good. It took fifteen minutes to make. I want to make it during the week – it would be great with capellini.
– The spinach salad was good, but we both like the other warm vinaigrette I’ve made in the past – this one didn’t have mustard in it.
– There was a dark chocolate tasting at the book signing last night. We had a lot of chocolate left over, so we decided to open a bottle of port to go with it,

• Ricotta Calzones with Red Peppers, Spinach and Goat Cheese (Cook’s Illustrated, September/October 2003)
• Simple Tomato Sauce (Cook’s Illustrated, September/October 2003)
• Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing (Inside America’s Test Kitchen, Cook’s Illustrated, p. 101)
• Dark Chocolate (Baker’s, Ghirardelli and Scharffenberger)

Wine:
– David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese (Paso Robles, California). Good everyday Sangiovese. We have another nine bottles of it still.
– Teldeschi 1997 Zinfandel Port (Dry Creek Valley, California). Not bad. It was one of the first bottles of wine Larry and I bought together.