9255 Italian Appetizers

Does anyone have any favorite Italian appetizer recipes you would like to share? We are having an Italian wine tasting next week and would really like a good recipe to pair the wine with. It could be as varied as Chianti to Barolo or Verdicchio to Pino Grigio.

Category
Food & Drink

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 08:35

Another idea, besides the crostini, but you will need to hurry up to prepare it. Take a small pecorino cheese ( 1 - 1 1/2 kg) and, with a small, very sharp knife, carve a lid from the top (in one piece) and make some small holes in the cheese, without piercing it completely. Very slowly, pour a glass of grappa over the holes. Do it slowly to allow the grappa to be absorbed by the cheese. Once it's done, put the lid on, cover with aluminium foil and wrap in plastic. Keep in the fridge for about a week. Serve the cheese whole with some crackers, or grissini, or crostini. It looks very effective and it tastes great. Enjoy!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 04/07/2008 - 16:44

[quote=Gala Placidia;87085]Another idea, besides the crostini, but you will need to hurry up to prepare it. Take a small pecorino cheese ( 1 - 1 1/2 kg) and, with a small, very sharp knife, carve a lid from the top (in one piece) and make some small holes in the cheese, without piercing it completely. Very slowly, pour a glass of grappa over the holes. Do it slowly to allow the grappa to be absorbed by the cheese. Once it's done, put the lid on, cover with aluminium foil and wrap in plastic. Keep in the fridge for about a week. Serve the cheese whole with some crackers, or grissini, or crostini. It looks very effective and it tastes great. Enjoy![/quote]

Thanks so much for the recipe. It sounds delicious. However, I don't think we'll have enough time as the party is in 5 days. Any other suggestions?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 01:59

Sorry, I am leaving right now for New York, no time left. One quick piece of advice, when making the crostini, they should be bite size, otherwise they get a bit difficult to eat, so make them small. Mmmm, you could also make some mini pizzas, bite size as well. Good luck with the party!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 06:58

Thanks so much for the suggestions and have a great trip!

Lisa

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 07:40

On the crostini theme, I did various crostini-inspired nibbles for a Xmas meal last year. I made a foccaccia bread and then turned that into the "crostini" base by toasting it in a heavy ridged grill pan (so that it ended up like a pannini finish). I diced it into little squares and then added various toppings. It all worked well, except that despite the oil content, double cooking & density of the finished base, they still softened up quite a bit in the delay between preparation & consumption. I've since done similar nibbles for another 'do' - and i changed from bread to crisped polenta for the bases.

Cook the polenta as normal, season to taste with salt & pepper and mix in some olive oil & grated parmesan. Then pour into shallow, oiled dishes and allow to set before brushing top with more oil and baking in a hot(ish) oven until crispy and then dice/slice as required. Its a bit different and definitely holds up better to moist toppings if you intend to do everything ahead of time and focus on enjoying yourself when the guests arrive.

Not at all Italian (other than the base), but the nibble that everyone enjoyed most, and which would go well with any good dry white - eg. an Orvieto Classico or the pinot grigio - was white crabmeat dressed with horseradish on a bed of finely shredded letuce, topped with a wee dollop of "euro caviar" (i.e. the relatively cheap stuff that comes in small jars, not the finest beluga!). Finish with a last minute squeeze of lemon and they're dynamite. Now, whether you can get good horseradish sauce (look for 30% plus horseradish in the ingredient list) and an affordable equivalent to euro caviar in the USA is another matter ...

ps. if you do decide to do this, I'd ditch the parmesan in the polenta mix, as it is probably out of place (I was doing a lot of other savoury toppings and couldn't be bothered to make two varieties of base ... the crabmeat ones were fine with the parmesan, but would have been better without).

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 07:51

You could try arranging some cherry or other small tomatoes( keeping them on the vine) on a plate, cutting the tops off and inserting a slice of mozzarella then finish by drizzling with olive oil, a sprinkle of herbs and black pepper, looks really pretty and effective and takes no time. Hope it helps, good luck with the party and the cooking,
Sally

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 08:08

I have a friend out here who would probably sell her soul for horseradish, can you buy it? or better still can you grow it?, its wonderful in potato salad, oh now I am hungry again!.
A

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 13:16

Moved to : Italiauncovered.co.uk

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 13:23

[quote=Oneto15;87222]Hi Angie.

Yes it can be cultivated. Point your friend in the direction of this site, it might help. :smile:

[url=http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingHorseradish.html]Growing Horseradish: HerbExpert[/url][/quote]

Hi Oneto15
Thanks for the link..........now MFBLOH can keep her soul .....well that is until the outlet sales start again..........:laughs::laughs:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 13:40

Deep-fried fresh sage leaves -- dip large fresh leaves of sage in beaten egg, then roll in seasoned breadcrumbs -- fry in hot (very hot) olive oil until brown (they will puff up a bit), drain well on paper towels. Nonna was Venetian, I swear by these -- they're bite size, easy to eat, unusual, intense in flavor!