OK, you’re going out for the evening.  You ask your host “Can I bring anything”  They say, sure,

how about an hors d’oeuvre or some munchies?  You think…WHAT CAN I BRING that’s not “chips n’ dip”

So here’s the solution….create a beautiful antipasti platter.  You won’t need that much and it won’t break

the bank. You’ll need a good sized platter….oval are great. OK now, go to your local deli or Italian specialty

shop. I use the following…..a little less than 1/4 lb of each of these salumi (all prepared meats are called salumi in Italy)

1. Capicollo (sweet), 2. finnochiona or spressatta, 3. regular Genova salami, 4. Mortadella…..all sliced very thin. Next you’ll need some olives. Try about ten of each, calamata (pitted), regular domestic black pitted olives, maybe a couple alphonsos, greek (pitted). Next a small punch of grapes, some nice broad green leaf lettuce and some mint or chives for garnish. OK….ready to create.

Cut all the salumi in half. Start with the finnochiona and place each half along the rim of the platter, next do the same with the coppicollo halves. Now break off about four or five big lettuce leaves and put them in the middle of the platter. Add the grapes to the middle. Now, take each half of the Genova salami and make little cones out of them. (The fat from the salami will stick them together)  Place these (5-6) at both ends of the platter, then arrange various olives in the spaces remaining. Finish with the mortadella halves that you can just bunch up and stick them in the remaining spaces. Now to finish , stick a bunch of the mint sprigs into the space in the bunch of grapes and sprinkle the chopped chives all over the whole thing. Just look what you have created….look at the colors and textures!  People with think you are a culinary genious…and now you are!

Comments are closed.