Grilled ham and cheese

Eastside Road, January 23, 2012—

LET'S JUST KEEP IT simple, shall we? Good Como bread from Downtown; thin slices of Black Forest ham; ditto of Gruyère. Butter on the outside of the sandwiches, just a little. Grill in the black iron skillet. A good green salad afterward, and then, just to keep it from being too simple,

Pears Baked in Marsala

Pour a cup of dry Marsala over six large firm unpeeled pears in a baking dish, sprinkle them with a cup of sugar, pour a scant cup of water into the dish, add a cinnamon stick, and bake, basting them every twenty minutes, for a couple of hours at 325° or until the pears are soft.

The recipe is from Milan's Restaurant Peck, as set out by Robert Freson in his book Savoring Italy (HarperCollins, 1992).

Ribolla Gialla, La Viarte (Colli oriental del Friuli), 2009: a perfect match to the dinner.