If you grow your own vegetables, or live near a good farmer's market, summer is a time of great wealth: There's all that fresh produce to enjoy! It's also a time to prepare, canning and pickling some of that summer abundance for the the long dark winter months.
Sott'oli are vegetables packed in oil, and are also one of the more common commercially prepared antipasti; my father-in-law loves them and they're a fixture on the Sunday table. If you have a vegetable garden, making them is easy, and you'll be able to taylor the flavorings to your taste.
Sun dried tomatoes are a standard South Italian antipasto and ingredient, and are also easy to make. This particular recipe is Calabrian; before you begin check the weather forecast because you'll need several days of hot dry weather with intense sunlight.
These can be addictive. Very, and don't be too surprised if people ignore everything else when they see them among the antipasti, and then beg out of the rest of the meal because they feel full.
This is what most Italians think of when they hear the words
Sotto Aceti, a collection of mixed pickled vegetables. The standard Italian antipasto misto wouldn't be quite right without giardiniera, and they also work very well with boiled meats in the winter months.
These are a mainstay of the mixed antipasto, and though you might not expect it, can vary considerably depending upon the type of button onion you choose to pickle. With sweeter onions they'll be more delicate, whereas more acrid onions will have a considerable bite that will be quite nice with boiled meats and vegetables.
Bell peppers are astonishingly versatile, and these will be quite nice either as part of a mixed antipasto, or with boiled meats during the winter months.
A very tasty, very traditional recipe.
Though Italian mostarda does contain powdered mustard seed or mustard oil, it bears little resemblance to mustard: Rather, mostarda is fruit preserved in syrup that has quite a kick, and is one of the standard condiments served with boiled meats in northern Italy. Very nice.
There's no dish quite so refreshing on a hot day as a bowl of pasta seasoned with lots of freshly made pomarola and a handful of grated cheese. This recipe expands well, and most households make gallons of it for the winter months when the flood of tomatoes reaches its peak in August, forcing the prices down.
