Simple Italian Appetizers

As the holiday entertaining season approaches, I can't get the fabulous food of Tuscany out of my mind. Something about the simplicity of the fresh ingredients has stuck with me - like the prosciutto and melon pictured above, and the sheep's cheese, walnut, and honey platter below.

I truly think that fresh, local ingredients are what make the food I experienced in Italy so excellent, but I think that we can translate these foods into our own local and affordable versions. These are the appetizers that I served to my family at one of our Thanksgiving meals this week, which added some variety to what we often serve at our gatherings. All are simple to prepare and serve.

Sheep's Cheese Platter

For the cheese platter, I chose a Manchego cheese over an Italian peccorino, since I have not yet found fresh peccorino I like here in California (mostly I have found Peccorino Romano, which here is usually a hard matured cheese rather than fresh). Since "peccorino" just means sheep's cheese, I found the Spanish Manchego to be a pleasing alternative sheep's cheese, which is readily available at Trader Joe's. Sheep's cheese is also a good option for the lactose intolerant in my family, since it has less lactose than cow's milk cheeses.

I also chose a Havarti (not a sheep's cheese, but very mild) at the request of one of my brothers, and both cheeses paired well with the California Premium walnuts, bits of 85% Columbian dark chocolate, creamed honey, and crackers I also obtained from Trader Joe's. I had prepared crostini by cutting a sourdough baguette in thin slices, brushing them with a mixture of half melted salted butter and half canola oil, lightly sprinkling them with fresh ground pink salt, and baking them at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until appropriately toasted. This is a great appetizer since people can experiment with the combinations they like of the available options.

Shopping List: Manchego cheese, Havarti cheese, California Premium walnuts, 85% Columbian dark chocolate, creamed or regular honey, crackers, baguette

Prosciutto and Melon

This is the prosciutto and cantaloupe I served; next time I would go with a different source for the prosciutto, since this one was a little too salty for me, and for some reason I had to wait 20 minutes at Muzio's in San Luis Obispo in 0rder for a quarter pound to be sliced for me. Still, it's a nice salty/sweet and fairly healthy appetizer; it takes about 1/4 pound of thinly sliced prosciutto to be served with half of a large cantaloupe. Just slice the melon and drape the prosciutto over it! I let the guests cut off their desired amounts of melon and ham.

Shopping List: 1/2 of a large cantaloupe, 1/4 lb thinly sliced prosciutto

Raspberry and Mascarpone Crostini

Finally, I stole this idea from a friend of mine in L.A.: crostini topped with mascarpone cheese (a milder cream cheese), fresh raspberries, and drizzled with honey. So simple, but so good! The crostini should be toasted plain at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, so that they are just dried on one side but not browned yet. These were sourdough, but a plain baguette would work just as well. Prepare just prior to serving so they don't get soggy, and the larger and plumper the raspberries the better.

Shopping List: 1 baguette, 8 oz mascarpone, 1 basket fresh raspberries, honey to drizzle

Spice Cake and the Great Cheese Platter

What a food-busy week! In the midst of various other plots, I also created my first cheese platter for a vegetarian friend of mine. I thought that cheese would be a lavish treat for the non-vegan vegetarian, but I never imagined that my lactose intolerant self would fall so in love with it.

I raided Trader Joe's for Gorgonzola, light Havarti, smoked Gouda, herbed goat, medium cheddar, and mild creamy Brie, accompanied by Gala apples, D'Anjou pears, mango ginger chutney, sun-dried tomatoes, green olives, toasted baguette, and this lovely spice cake (stacked behind the baguette slices in the photo above). I was unsure of the spice cake's pairing with the cheese, until I started gorging myself on spongy cubes of spice cake with Brie...

Apparently this cake also worked with the cheddar, and it's quite nice on its own. Soft, moist, and springy, warmly spicy, it's a relatively healthy cake option with simple ingredients. Next time I may try this with all whole wheat flour, as it seemed light and moist enough to handle it.

Make the cake a day prior to serving it in order to let the spice and honey flavors bloom.

Spice Cake
(Pain d'Epice, from the Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook)

1 1/2 C nonfat milk
2/3 C honey
1/3 C mild-flavored dark molasses
1 C flour
1 C whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
optional: 1/4 C finely diced soft candied ginger OR candied orange peel

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x5 inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Combine the milk, honey, and molasses in a small saucepan. Set over medium heat and heat the mixture without boiling, stirring with a spatula until dissolved. Set aside and let cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Optional: In a small bowl, combine the ginger or orange peel with 2 teaspoons of the flour mixture.

Form a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk mixture slowly and whisk in a circular motion, starting from the center, until all the flour has been incorporated - the batter will be thin. Fold in the ginger or orange peel, if using. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the surface is brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Transfer pan to a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife along the sides of the pan to loosen the loaf, and unmold. Let cool completely, wrap in foil, and let rest at room temperature until the next day.