20 Ideas, Inspiration and Tips for Antipasto and Small Bites

charcuterie board

This post is meant to inspire you, give you ideas with some tips along the way on creating antipasto platters and small bites for easy entertaining, last minute get togethers, holidays, weekend lunch and Sunday afternoon noshing.

These platters and boards will help you visualize all the different components that you can use in creating them because there is no exact recipe for this kind of eating, the sky is the limit!

This is easy no fuss entertaining, small portions of cured meats, cheese, nuts, crackers, fruit, berries, olives, store bought or homemade spreads and that’s just to name a few.

Small bites can consist of various different crostini, grilled veggies, stuffed mini peppers, honestly there’s no limit, the list can go on and on and the best thing is that it’s always welcome no matter what season of the year it is.

 

fig and prosciutto

Sometimes you just need a few quality ingredients to make the most perfect and delicious bites, like fresh figs on top of prosciutto with burrata and toasted ciabatta bread.

charcuterie board

Here’s a little bit of everything with some of my favorites like soppressata, provolone and black pepper taralli, oh and I can’t leave out my castelvetrano olives.

You can prepare this in advance or arrange it last minute, just serve up your favorite beverage to pair with this and you’re good to go!

peppers and goat cheese

You’ve seen those colorful mini peppers, well they make the perfect small bites. The above are filled with goat cheese and herbs, roasted and then drizzled with olive oil, all you need is some crusty bread.

foccacia board

Leftover focaccia bread rounds out this whole board with the other components.

zucchini carpaccio

I like using things that are in season, like summer tomatoes and fresh zucchini. I prepared the zucchini carpaccio style, raw with shaved parmesan and dressed with lemon and olive oil.

grilled artichokes

Grilled artichokes with lemon aioli, these will disappear in a hot minute! We have a love of artichokes in my family.

charcuterie board

Your meats should be thinly sliced, sometimes I just order a quarter pound of everything and I can usually make a nice big board, with all the other things added like marinated artichokes, bocconcini and various olives and things to fill it up even more.

bread and olive oil

Many times just good crusty bread dipped into a simple mix of quality olive oil, a little spice, with a drizzle of balsamic is all you need to satisfy your senses, low effort with unbelievable results and everyone loves it, especially if they have their own individual dish.

nduja and crackers

Spreads are good too, here I used a spicy Nduja, which basically is a spreadable pork salumi. I also purchased an olive spread and I made a creamy goat cheese spread with pecans, noshing at it’s best!

eggplant dip

Roasted eggplant dip, so good and so simple.  Prick an eggplant and roast on a foil lined sheet pan until it’s soft, let it cool down then mash in a bowl with garlic, lemon and olive oil. Place into a serving dish and garnish with herbs, olive oil and here I used a swipe of jarred roasted red pepper sauce with a few olives, of course toast up some crusty bread for dipping.

crostini bar

Toasted crostini slathered with smashed peas and burrata was the star of the show here, but just think of the different variations you can make.

quick lunch

Quick lunch? Grab a friselle, ( a hard pre-toasted bread available at Italian markets) and top with a juicy cherry tomato salad with olive oil, fresh hand tied mozzarella, optional!

frisselle crostini

I always keep a couple of bags of friselle in my pantry, they keep for a long time and when company drops in I can whip something together really fast and top them with different things I might have in my fridge.

cantaloupe and prosciutto

Melon wrapped in prosciutto with mixed greens, feta and a rich balsamic dressing, who wouldn’t love this?

charcuterie board

Or this?

charcuterie board

Or this? I told you I love sopressata, artichokes and those beautiful hand tied fresh bocconcini, if you can find some, grab a big container for sure!

fig crostini

How about some good old store bought fig spread, swipe on some crusty bread with a bit of cheese and an apple slice, the perfect bite!

eggplant caprese

Thin grilled slices of eggplant topped off with a caprese salad, grab a hunk of bread and a glass of wine, need I say more?

cheese and meat board

There’s no limit to creating the perfect bite, they’re always crowd pleasing with something for everyone to enjoy. Simple, easy and impressive, fun to make like creating art on a board, the perfect nibble for everyone!

Follow me on Instagram to see what else I’m cooking up during the week.

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Frizzelle

Frizzelle, I haven’t had them in years until a week ago when my friend Jean brought a platter full to our monthly Bunco get together. She stirred up so many good memories eating these as kids, and we all wondered why we stopped buying them! After one bite, I couldn’t wait to go out and get a bag!
Frizelle, sometimes spelled Friselle, are crispy Italian circular breads that have a hole in the center, it’s baked once, then cut in half, then rebaked on a very low temperature until completly dried and super crispy.
You can find Frizzelle usually at any good Italian market or bakery, they’re stacked in a bag, they come in whole wheat or white, small or large size, and they’re very inexpensive!

With just a few store bought ingredients you have the makings for a wonderful snack. This is what I made for Super Bowl Sunday, the husband was very happy!
I ran over to my nearest Italian market and bought a bag of the smaller whole wheat ones, a jar of eggplant salad, which has sliced eggplant marinated in oil and spices, along with roasted red peppers, celery, capers, and smashed green olives, all in one jar, so good! a chunk of good aged fontinella cheese, provolone is just as good, and thinly sliced salami which I diced up when I got home.


Because they’re very crisp, many people like to sprinkle a little water over the top to soften them up. I never do that for mine, I like the crunch! Besides all your toppings soften them up anyway, but that’s just me.

The key thing to do, I mean you have to do this, is take a raw garlic clove and rub it all over, the garlic flavor will fall between the crunchy grooves. Now drizzle olive oil on top of that, a little salt, black pepper, and another key ingredient is dried oregano, shake it all over!

See how everything soaks in? It’s even good to eat it just like this adding a little red wine vinegar drizzled on top.

But it’s much better like this, trust me!
I like to drain my eggplant salad, you don’t need all that oil, you’ve already prepped your bread with your good olive oil.
Play around and experiment with your favorite toppings, how about a ripe tomato salad spooned on top? It’s great to have a bag handy in your pantry when someone pops over for a visit. Quick, easy and so good!
Now go out and try to find these, you’ll be happy you did!
Buon Appetito!

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