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Spring Antipasto Platter

5.0(190)

The antipasto table in old-fashioned Italian restaurants is a sort of precursor to the modern-day salad bar, though usually far better. The idea is to let customers serve themselves (or be served by the maître d’) a few spoonsful of room temperature vegetable preparations—grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, marinated mushrooms—along with a little cheese and salumi. It’s an easy concept to adopt at home for a dinner party. Serve it buffet style, on a platter, or on individual plates as a first course. Change the vegetables seasonally; for spring use asparagus, fennel, snap peas and young onions. Choose the very freshest mozzarella, burrata or ricotta, and thinly sliced prosciutto, salame, mortadella or lardo.

by David Tanis·published 2015-05-06

Open original recipe

ItalianDinner, Lunch, Quick, Vegetables, Main Course, Side Dish

Servings

(4–6)

Total time

30 min

Calories / serving

377 kcal

Ingredients (11)

serves

2 bunches small spring onions or scallionsscallion
Saltsalt
1 bunch asparagus, about 1 pound, tough ends removedasparagus
1/2 pound sugar snap peassugar
2 medium fennel bulbs, trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick ringsfennel
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, salame, mortadella or lardoprosciutto
Flaky sea salt or fleur de sel
Black pepperpepper
Extra-virgin olive oilolive-oil
Basil or mint leavesbasil
1 pound fior di latte, bufala mozzarella, burrata or fresh ricotta, at cool room temperature

Instructions (4 steps)

01Heat the broiler. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
02Trim tops, roots and outer layer of spring onions, then arrange in one layer on a broiler pan. Broil until they are lightly charred on one side, 2 to 3 minutes, then turn and broil the other side until onions have softened a bit, about 3 minutes more. (It’s fine if they become blackened in spots.) Remove pan and let cool to room temperature.