Italian snacks have their own special aroma, bright and sunny. That is why they are loved all over the world. If you can’t visit the restaurant, we recommend you try them at home. Here is a selection of different interesting recipes.
Italian appetizers - general principles of preparation
Appetizers in Italy make light. Many of them are specially designed for serving before pasta. Vegetables and greens speed up digestion and prepare the stomach for a heavy and satisfying meal.
What snacks are made of:
• tomatoes, eggplant and other vegetables;
• Parmesan, mozzarella and other types of cheese;
• chicken, meat, seafood.
Refueling often uses olive oil, vinegar of various kinds. The addition of basil is welcomed; in some recipes its quantity is surprising. Black pepper may be present in snacks, it is better to grind it with peas before use, so as not to lose the aroma.
Italian appetizer "Caprese"
Caprese is the easiest type of Italian appetizer. Despite the small amount of ingredients, it turns out to be unusually aromatic and tasty. Basil is one of the most important components, do not try to replace it with something.
Ingredients
• 4 branches of basil;
• 150 grams of mozzarella;
• 5 tomatoes;
• 5 tbsp. l oils;
• salt pepper.
Cooking
1. Wash and dry the tomatoes. You need to choose ripe tomatoes that are the same size as balls of cheese. In this case, the snack will have not only a harmonious look, but also a taste.
2. Cut the tomatoes in even circles. Leave on the board. Once again, it is better not to touch the vegetable so that it does not lose juice.
3. Cut into the same circles mozzarella.
4. Take a flat large plate. Put the appetizer in a circle in the form of a wreath, alternating pieces of cheese and tomato, lay reclining.
5. Basil is better to take green. Rinse the branches in advance, dry, tear off all the leaves.
6. Lay leaves between tomatoes and cheese. Pour the remains into the center of the formed wreath. Can be put for beauty and twigs.
7. Sprinkle the appetizer with fine salt on top, pepper and pour olive oil over the wreath.
8. Caprese can not be stored, the appetizer is served fresh after cooking, so you do not need to do it for the future or use the ingredients in large quantities.
Italian appetizer "Caponata" with eggplant
The main, but far from the only, ingredient of this Italian appetizer is eggplant. In general, in a sunny country they are actively used in cooking, and this is only one of the popular recipes.
Ingredients
• 2 eggplants;
• 100 ml of oil;
• Onion head;
• 1 tbsp. l capers;
• 3 stalks of celery;
• 3 tbsp. l wine vinegar;
• 1.5 tablespoons of sugar;
• 1 tbsp. l pine nuts;
• 800 g of tomatoes in its juice.
Cooking
1. Cut eggplant lengthwise into halves, generously salt the pulp. Leave for about half an hour. Then the vegetables need to be salted, cut into small cubes.
2. Fry the eggplant in olive oil for seven minutes. They should become softer, but not fall apart. Transfer to a pan, add more oil to this pan.
3. Chop onion, toss in butter. Cook the vegetable for a couple of minutes.
4. Add diced celery stalks. Hold for a few more minutes on fire with the onion.
5. Add tomatoes in your juice. They can be laid whole or chopped with a blender. We do as we like. Cook over medium heat until the celery is soft. In time it is about ten minutes.
6. We shift these vegetables to eggplant.
7. Add sugar, vinegar and salt, pepper. We lay capers, pine nuts. Gently stir so as not to damage the slices of vegetables.
8. Cook over low heat for another five minutes, cool. We shift it into a bowl with a lid, let it brew in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Italian eggplant appetizer with sun-dried tomatoes
Sun-dried tomatoes are used in many Italian snacks, but eggplant is especially well combined with them. Your attention is one of the best recipes for fragrant rolls. In addition, mozzarella is needed, which, if desired, is replaced with other types of cheese.
Ingredients
• two eggplants;
• 100 g of sun-dried tomatoes;
• 4 tbsp. l olive oil;
• 2 branches of basil;
• 2 balls of mozzarella;
• 2 cloves of garlic.
Cooking
1. If the eggplants are not bitter, then immediately cut them into thin long plates, send them to a greased frying pan and fry over medium heat until cooked. If specific bitterness is present, then pre-soak, then also fry. Do not pour a lot of oil, it is enough to lubricate the surface, and so that the vegetable is cooked inside, just turn off the heat.
2. Chop the garlic and basil, transfer to a mortar, add black pepper and knead thoroughly. Amazing aroma will appear.
3. Mix the garlic mass with olive oil. You can replace it with sour cream. Yogurt or mayonnaise, if you do not want to get too greasy snack.
4. Grease all the eggplant plates with the sauce.
5. Cut the cheese into approximately the same slices as tomatoes.
6. In each eggplant we put a piece of cheese and a tomato, twist the roll.
7. Transfer the rolls to a plate, any greens can be used for decoration, but it’s better to take basil.
Italian bruschetta appetizer with tomatoes and chicken
Bruschetta is an Italian sandwich. For snacks use different types of cheese, basil, eggplant, tomatoes, but a combination of tomatoes and chicken is especially successful and satisfying.
Ingredients
• half a white loaf;
• 250 g of chicken;
• 2 tomatoes;
• 0.5 tsp coriander;
• 2 branches of basil;
• salt, spices, oil.
Cooking
1. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes for a few seconds. Then rinse with cold water and peel off. To cut in cubes.
2. Cut the chicken flesh into small pieces, put in a skillet, fry over high heat until golden brown.
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, remove the heat, cover the pan and simmer until tender.
4. Season with chopped basil, salt. Crush coriander seeds and add to the total mass. Stir.
5. Cut white bread or loaf into slices. Dry in the oven or use a toaster.
6. Lubricate slices of bread with tomato mass, impose generously. Additionally, you can decorate the bruschetta with fresh basil.
Italian appetizer of spicy tomatoes
It turns out that for the preparation of Italian snacks it is not necessary to buy half of the store. Sometimes it’s enough to have only tomatoes and different spices.
Ingredients
• 3 tomatoes;
• 10 ml of apple or wine vinegar;
• 1 tbsp. l chopped greens;
• 2 tbsp. l olive oil;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• black pepper;
• 0.5 tsp. salt and sugar.
Cooking
1. Tomatoes need to be cut into circles, but we don’t do it very thinly. About half a centimeter.
2. Mix vinegar with sugar and salt, pepper, add olive oil and squeeze a clove of garlic. In general, you can throw everything into a bowl and beat with a blender.
3. Lubricate each tomato with the cooked marinade, laying on top of each other three things, slightly press down.
4. Put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Then take out the appetizer, sprinkle with herbs and can be served!
Italian appetizer "Carpaccio" with beef
A meat version of an Italian appetizer that uses beef. It is very important to use fresh meat of high quality, as in the classic version it is not subjected to heat treatment. But if you wish, you can lightly fry.
Ingredients
• 0.2 kg of meat;
• 30 grams of parmesan;
• a small handful of basil leaves;
• 15 grams of capers;
• 3 grams of salt;
• 20 ml of oil;
• 15 ml balsamic vinegar.
Cooking
1. Cut the beef into thin layers. Cover with cling film, beat off with a hammer. Can be cut into strips if the plates are large.
2. We transfer meat to a plate, pour with vinegar, sprinkle with salt, pepper, sprinkle with olive oil. You can leave for a while to pickle.
3. Now just lay the capers on top, add the grated parmesan.
4. We supplement the dish with fresh herbs of basil.
Italian eggplant appetizer with mint
A variation of Italian pickled eggplant with mint. The original recipe uses white varieties. Blue eggplant can also be taken, but only with thin and delicate skin.
Ingredients
• 700 g eggplant;
• 1.3 tsp salts;
• 5 tbsp. l wine vinegar;
• clove of garlic;
• 35 g of mint;
• 110 g of olive oil;
• 10 g of sugar.
Cooking
1. Eggplant cut into strips lengthwise, add 1 tsp. salt, stir. Leave for half an hour.
2. Pour the vegetable into boiling water, boil for a minute, send in a colander.
3. Prepare the marinade from vinegar. Oils. Add the rest of the salt, sugar, stir. Pour into a saucepan and warm over low heat.
4. Chop fresh mint, add garlic, stir and pour the marinade.
5. Transfer the cooked eggplant with a peppermint mixture. Put the rest on top.
6. Put in the refrigerator for 5 hours and the Italian appetizer is ready!
Italian snacks - useful tips and tricks
• Love Italian snacks? Then you need to stock up on basil. It can be dried for the winter and frozen just like regular dill. Its greens turn out to be much more aromatic than purchased analogues, and besides, it can be thoroughly washed, dried, which is not always done in production.
• No mozzarella? This cheese can be replaced with other brine types. Something like goat feta cheese. In any case, the absence of mozzarella is not a reason to refuse Italian appetizers.
• Eggplant is often used in Italian dishes and is usually fried. If you don’t like the abundance of fat, then try to cook slices of vegetable in a grill pan or in the oven, it will turn out no worse.
