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.
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.
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!
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.
Leftover focaccia bread rounds out this whole board with the other components.
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 with lemon aioli, these will disappear in a hot minute! We have a love of artichokes in my family.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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? 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!
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.
Melon wrapped in prosciutto with mixed greens, feta and a rich balsamic dressing, who wouldn’t love this?
Or this?
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!
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!
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?
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!
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