Hors d’Oeuvre
In the south of France, they do the pick’n’mix starter with much grace. A classic hors d’oeuvre selection may include pâtés and cured hams, or delicious pungent dips and spreads.
Tapenade Buy a jar of this blend of olives, capers and anchovies. Pile it into a pretty little bowl, and finish with a sprig of parsley.
Fromage frais aux fines herbes As a complete contrast, make up your own bowl of creamy pale cheese flecked with green herbs. Buy a pot or two of creamy young goat’s cheese (chèvre frais) and beat in either a little crushed garlic or finely chopped shallot, lots of chopped fresh herbs (parsley, mint, tarragon, chives or whatever you have to hand) and a few spoonfuls of cream or milk if the mixture is still too thick to work as a dip. Then scrape into a bowl and place on the table.
Crudités Serve these with the two dips – in other words, carrot sticks, strips of pepper, celery sticks, pink and white radishes and so on.
French bread The ready-to-bake half baguettes are usually better than the ubiquitous French stick.
French olives These are easy to find. Amongst the best are small, dark, wrinkled Niçoise olives and green picholine olives.
Silvery marinated anchovies Although these may actually have come from Italy or elsewhere, they fit nicely into this southern French ensemble.
Italian Antipasti
For a really special occasion, track down your nearest Italian deli for a classy selection of imports, but the rest of the time, scour the shelves of your local supermarket for some of the following:
Parma ham or San Daniele ham The most famous of Italy’s many cured raw hams (prosciutto crudo), sliced paper thin.
Bresaola Cured beef, thinly sliced and dressed with a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Italian salami.
Pecorino A sheep’s milk cheese, which may be either hard or soft.
Provolone A softer cow’s milk cheese which may be young and mild (dolce) or more mature and punchy (piccante).
Buffalo mozzarella Mozzarella di bufala is the real thing, softer and milkier than cow’s milk mozzarella. It comes in packets in its own brine. Serve it drained, torn into pieces and dressed with lemon or balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and a little chopped parsley, mint, or even fresh tarragon. You could also add some sliced halved cherry tomatoes for contrast, or ‘bocconcini di mozzarella’, walnut-sized mini-mozzarellas, served whole and dressed as above.
Olives Choose whichever type you like best as long as they are not those ghastly stoned black olives that taste of soap.
Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil.
Canned marinated grilled peppers.
Marinated baby artichokes These come in glass jars. Serve them sliced in halves or quarters.
Ciabatta bread Many supermarkets now sell ‘ready-to-bake ciabatta’ which comes out of the oven crisp and golden outside, soft and slightly chewy inside, with the most tantalising smell. Warm ciabatta always seems to disappear with remarkable speed, so buy a loaf or two more than you think you will need.
Spanish Chaciñas Plate
Over recent years we have been introduced to more and more of the excellent cured pork products and cheeses of Spain, via a handful of delicatessens and now the supermarkets. These are usually referred to as ‘chaciñas’, which translates more or less as ‘cold cuts’, but taste a good deal more exciting than that sounds. To make up a Spanish chaciñas plate, take your pick from:
Jamón serrano The Spanish equivalent to Parma ham, cured high in the hills. Chorizo A spicy salami, with a reddish hue from generous seasoning of paprika. It can either be ‘dulce’ or mild, or ‘piccante’ or chilli-hot.
Manchego cheese Spain’s most renowned cheese with a gorgeous flavour, which can either be mild or mature and is often served with ‘marmelada’ or quince paste.
Caper berries The fruit of the caper plant that grows wild around the rocky shores of the Mediterranean. Capers are the buds, but the berries or seed-pods are like tiny maracas that have been pickled in vinegar – delicious.
Olives Spain specialises in huge ‘gordo’ green olives which are sometimes sold here, but any juicy, plump-looking olive, black or green, will look good on the plate.
Canned ‘pequillo’ peppers Something of a speciality in Spain, you can sometimes find them on supermarket shelves here. Look out too for the small green padron peppers which are just beginning to hit the shops in this country.
Bread Spanish bread hasn’t made much of a mark here, so choose any handsome-looking loaf of bread to accompany your chaciñas. A sourdough pain de campagne or sturdy rye bread, warmed through in the oven, would be a good choice.
Greek/Middle Eastern Mezze
From Greece and the Middle East come some of the best ready-made starters and snacks – from hummus and taramasalata to pitta bread and now the floppier, larger Arab bread. Put them all together and you can create a magnificent ‘mezze’, a pick’n’mix of a first course.
Hummus This is the obvious starting place for any Greek-inspired ‘mezze’ and a pot of two of bought hummus can easily be dolled up to look glamorous. First of all, add a little crushed garlic if you wish to liven up the flavour, then scrape it into a small bowl, and dust the top lightly with paprika or cayenne pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. A small sprig of parsley in the centre adds a final splash of colour. If you have the time, you could also sprinkle over or stir into the hummus a handful of pine nuts, that have been dry-fried until golden brown for a sophisticated finish.
Taramasalata This has to be next on the list, but try to find some that has not been dyed a virulent bright pink. Natural taramasalata is a softer, honeyed colour. Again, scrape into a bowl and sprinkle over a little cayenne pepper and some chopped parsley.
Crudités Provide a selection of raw vegetables to dip into the hummus and taramasalata – carrot sticks, strips of pepper, celery sticks and so on, as well as plenty of warm pitta bread.
Gigantes beans in tomato sauce If you haven’t tasted these before, this is the moment to try them out. Usually sold in glass jars, they are similar to butter beans, bathed in a well-flavoured tomato, dill and olive oil sauce.
Canned dolmades Little parcels of flavoured rice wrapped in vine leaves, these are surprisingly good and just need to be transferred to a plate.
Purple black Kalamata olives are fat and juicy with taut skins and tip-tilted pointy ends.
Pickled green chillies These are a hot favourite in Greece, in both senses of the word – find them in jars, somewhere near the olives.
Some Classic Quick Starters
Here is a handful of quick and easy starters that never fail to please. Original? Well, maybe not, but the reason they’ve been enjoyed for so many decades is that they work so well, and cause so little angst to the cook!