Shopping an Italian Market

Tips and a recipe for entertaining or plain family enjoyment — Italian style.

More from TIPical Mary Ellen
Filed under: Recipes, How To

Put together an appetizing tray of meats, cheeses and olives.

Chef Andrew Zimmern tells how to shop an Italian market for several recipes.

Start with a shopping list. You will need the following: Gorgonzola cheese, fontina cheese, pecorino (from sheep's milk), Bel Paese (children will like this type of cheese), lupini beans, sweet cherry peppers, roasted peppers, artichoke hearts, black cerignola olives, fresh produce items such as basil and tomatoes, high-quality extra-virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, ciabatta bread (which gets its name from paving stones that lined the streets), soppresata (Italian sausage), toscano salami, pepperoni, mortadella (smoked sausage) and proscuitto di Parma (naturally cured pork).

Lupini beans are often hard to find. It helps if you know what they look like.

Make a fun cold-cuts tray out of a variety of Italian meats.

Create a meat and cheese platter by cutting deli meats into bite-size pieces. You do not have to cut off all the fat — it adds flavor. Remove any paper rinds. Garnish with peppers.

When making an antipasto platter, remember many ingredients are high in acid, so rich cheese will balance out the platter.

Hard cheeses like pecorino and Parmesan are great for pasta. Blue cheese is great with fruit such as figs and apples. Bel Paese or fontina is great for platters. You can freeze cheese if it has a "bloomed rind." Hard cheese can be frozen if grated. Hard cheeses that are wrapped properly will keep for about a month.

Make a side dish or appetizer tray of roasted olives. Just put them in a pan with olive oil and herbs for 10 to 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Bruschetta

Ingredients:

olive oil
ciabatta bread
3 leaves fresh basil
2 to 3 diced tomatoes, seeds removed
garlic, grated
balsamic vinegar

Preparation:

Rub olive oil, herbs and garlic onto small pieces of the bread. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Cut tomatoes into quarters and remove the seeds. Dice only the flesh of the tomato. Roll three leaves of basil together and slice into thin ribbons. (Store basil in brown paper bag in refrigerator, and do not let it absorb moisture or it will turn brown.) Add a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic (the grater will remove peel). Spoon over bowl so that the juices drip down and add to platter.