Italian Any Day.

 Italian regional food is elegant, simple, easy on eyes, and appears sophisticated at the same time. It might seem time-consuming but the steps are fairly easy. It's common for my dinner planning to come from a single ingredient. This time it was baked baby-eggplants. I baked it whole just to avoid it going bad without any particular plans. And since Italian cooking uses eggplants extensively my meal plan was born.

That's how it started...

Even if you're not an avid cook, putting together an Italian inspired meal shouldn't be a burden. Make sure you have fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, zucchini, Italian parsley, and sweet/mild peppers. Even better if you have any combination of capers, anchovies, marinated artichokes, sardines, or fresh basil in addition. A few words about basil. This magnificent herb should be only consumed raw. The dried version could be added to stews and soups but it will never ever replace its younger, fresher competitor in the dishes where basil shines. Dry basil has a completely different, medicinal bleak taste. Whether you buy a fresh bunch, a potted plant, or jarred pesto it's always superior to the dried herb. To this day I can't shake off my disappointment with pasta pesto in one of Colorado's Italian restaurants that combined a bunch of dried basil with cream for pesto and called it a day.

Just layer three ingredients.

Surrounding a couple of central cooked dishes by multiple simple plates paired with good wine will create a masterpiece without much of an effort. I baked small pizza bites called Pizzette brushed with olive oil and topped with tomatoes, mushrooms, salami, and mozzarella. I made simple dough from scratch but really any yeast dough or even thawed frozen pizza dough will do, rolled and cut with 3" cookie cutter. 

Another cooked dish was eggplant caponata, a popular Sicilian dish. I also deep-fried zucchini while the pizza bites were baking. The rest?  The Caprese salad is, literally, layering sliced tomatoes with sliced mozzarella and torn pieces of basil, sprinkle with salt/pepper, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic, or other rich vinegar.  Marinated vegetables, sardines, salami, and cheese were plated and that's it! 
Wine: 2014 Tomaiolo Chianti Classico Riserva. Blueberry, oak nose. Musk, citrus, dry oak, fairly smooth but I'd prefer white wine for this food selection.
Food cost: roughly $20 for four people, with major cost falling on mozzarella and basil $8.5.