A Fuss Free Italian Antipasti Platter

When it comes to the weekend it's sometimes nice to have a break from the cooking, without having the expense of going out for a meal. In the comfort of my own home, I enjoy having a bit of a 'picky' tea whilst enjoying the evening sunshine in the garden, or watching trashy tv with the family, if the weather is as bad as it has been recently!

Putting together an antipasti platter takes only a matter of minutes, but can look impressive enough to wow dinner party guests, as well as being informal enough to share with family in the back garden, or even taking on a picnic.

Ciao Gusto is a collective of authentic Italian food and drink brands, and their wide range of products makes it easy to put together a platter of antipasti.

Products are available to order online from the Ocado Ciao Gusto shop, making it even easier to enjoy the taste of Italy without leaving your home.

I ordered roasted peppers and sun dried tomatoes from the Ponti range of antipasti in jars, dry cured smoked ham from Negroni, mozzarella from Auricchio, and crispbread/croutons from Amica.

Along with olives, breadsticks, toasted ciabatta, ricotta cheese, fresh baby plum tomatoes, stuffed peppers, flavoured oils (lemon olive oil is particularly nice drizzled over mozzarella) and some fresh herbs, it made for a very delicious antipasti platter.

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I was provided with shopping vouchers to enable me to buy the products included in this post

Ciao Gusto Authentic Italian Cuisine

I absolutely love a Christmas hamper, and usually make at least one up for members of the family. This year I bought a lovely crate from Waitrose for just £5 and filled it with goodies for my parents. My mum often gives hampers too so I guess we have hamper giving in our blood. She's much better at the ribbon curling than me though so mine are usually finished with a bow.

I think the lovely people at Ciao Gusto must've known about my love of hampers and sent me this amazing basket filled with Italian goodies.

If you're not familiar with Ciao Gusto, they are a unique family of iconic Italian food and drink brands, such as Lavazza, Cirio, Barilla and Filippo Berio, to name a few. There's a dedicated Ciao Gusto shop online at Ocado where you can find all the authentic Italian foods that you need.

The Ciao Gusto site is full of recipe inspiration to get the best out of your ingredients, and I'm particularly keen to try the Cheese & Amarena Cherry Tartlets as I love a cheese & fruit combo, and these will make a great appetiser over the festive period.

I couldn't wait to tuck into the mini panettone, and made it into an indulgent dessert using cherry jam, mascarpone and a drizzle of Prosecco, inspired by one of the Ciao Gusto recipes.

SERVE WITH A GLASS OR TWO OF PROSECCO

Panettone Dessert for one (or maybe 2 if you're feeling generous)

1 small Bauli Panettone (100g)
130g mascarpone
75g Santa Rosa Italian Cherry Jam
1-2 tbsp Prosecco
10-20g dark chocolate, grated

• Slice the panettone into 5 equal slices
• fold the mascarpone, jam, prosecco and grated chocolate together (reserving a little for decoration)
• spread or pipe the mascarpone filling in between slices of panettone
• top with grated chocolate before serving with a large glass of Prosecco

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I was provided with a Ciao Gusto hamper in exchange for this post

Italian Scrambled Eggs on Toast

Next week is British Egg Week (5-11 October), and to mark the occasion I've recreated a classic egg dish, with a twist. Scrambled egg is one of the first things I learnt to cook growing up, and as this was before we had a microwave, it was cooked in a saucepan on the hob. Cooking scrambled eggs on the hob is still my preferred way of cooking it, but as this is also the husband's 'speciality' it's usually cooked in a jug, in the microwave, with little stirring (he says the kids prefer it that way!)

I've jazzed my eggs up with a little Italian touch and served them on a toasted ciabatta roll, instead of the usual sliced white. This recipe can serve 1-2, depending on how hungry you're feeling.

Italian Scrambled Eggs on Toast - serves 1

olive oil

4 cherry tomatoes

small knob of butter
3 medium free range eggs

salt & pepper

splash of milk

fresh basil

ciabatta roll, lightly toasted

parmesan

• heat the olive oil in a small saucepan
• add the tomatoes and cook for a few of minutes over a med/high heat until they soften
• remove the tomatoes from the pan & set aside
• add a little butter to the pan and heat until melted
• beat the eggs, salt & pepper & torn basil leaves together
• add to the pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring & scraping the bottom of the pan (I like to use a wooden spatula for this), until the eggs are cooked
• serve with the tomatoes on the ciabatta roll & top with freshly grated parmesan

 

To keep up to date with new recipes next week, follow #BritishEggWeek on twitter.

This recipe has been created for a #shortcuteggsperts challenge. I have been provided with shopping vouchers to cover the cost of my ingredients. More egg recipes can be found here.