Directly translating to ‘before the meal,’ this traditional Italian appetizer is one that comes in many variations depending on region and personal taste. Antipasto is typically an assortment of cheeses, cured meats, olives, and other marinated vegetables.
Ingredients:
Serano ham
Assorted olives
Montasio cheese
Roasted red peppers
Crostini
The beautiful thing about this dish is its versatility. It has the potential to be both an appetizer or a tiny meal, and since it is comprised of all your favourite little snacks, the dish is impossible to mess up. And if you’re like me, what a relief that is.
I chose to keep this particular antipasto spread relatively simple. I recommend buying fresh ingredients whenever possible—the flavours are meant to be strong and bring out the flavour in one another. Thankfully good olives—the kind you get in the deli section of an Italian grocer—are relatively inexpensive, because I use a ridiculous amount in my dish.
For this particular spread I used cured serano, a dry cheese from northwestern Italy called montasio, roasted red peppers, crostini, and olives. Lots of olives.
If your time isn’t constrained, I recommend adding some marinated artichoke hearts, cantaloupe—which tastes delicious with the meat and cheese—and an Italian vegetable called finocchio, which has basically the same texture as celery but has a hint of black liquorice flavour.
Gauge the ingredients based on your guests. If you have vegetarian amigos, perhaps keep the meat on a separate plate and add more of the other ingredients to the assortment.
Buon Appetito!
—@gooliaallen
