Antipasto

Ricotta Fritta – Fried Ricotta Antipasti

Ricotta Fritta

These ricotta fritta antipasti are a little like gnocchi, but a lot lighter and very ‘more-ish’. Ricotta is a strange cheese. It literally means ‘re-cooked’, as in that after normal cheese has been made by separating the curds from the whey, the whey is then heated to create the ricotta. Also ricotta doesn’t really melt, …

Continue reading

Tip-top Tapenade

Tapenade Ingredients

Though tapenade is best know as a dish from Provence, France, there exists very similar olive pastes throughout the Mediterranean. The word ‘tapenade’ hides a history in one of its ingredients, capers. In Provence, the caper plant is called ‘tapenei’, and capers used to be stored in vessels filled with olive oil. The capers were …

Continue reading

Save Money and Marinate your own Olives

Simple bowl of marinated olives

The mountains of glistening olives that you see in supermarket deli bars sure look tempting and they are hard to resist, but they can make quite a dent in your wallet. With a couple of ingredients, you can make your own at home, for a fraction of the cost and enjoy this little treat more …

Continue reading

Antipasto ideas

Antipasti Platter

Sometimes on restaurant menus the appetizers look more exciting than the main courses, and it is tempting to just order a few of them instead, sort of like tapas or meze. Though antipasto is Italian for ‘before food’, i.e. an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre, they are often served together on a large platter and can …

Continue reading

What the Focaccia are you looking at?

Baked Focaccia

Some people may think that focaccia is the poor cousin of the pizza, but they really are different beasts. Pizza has always been eaten as a dish in its own right, even though it may have morphed from the original Napoli version, though focaccia has always been an accompaniment to other dishes. The word focaccia is …

Continue reading