Bigly Antipasto Platter
Prep
20m
Cook
5m
Total
25m
Bigly says
Sit. Pour yourself a coffee. We're doing this right. Antipasto. The greatest opening act in the history of dinner, the curtain-raiser that wins every award before the main course even shows up. The salad course is in its dressing room crying. The bread basket is asking what it did wrong. Nothing, bread basket. You're fine. You're just not antipasto. Easy math.
An old Italian woman cornered me once in a butcher shop in South Philadelphia and made me promise — promise, hand on her shoulder, eye contact, the works — that I would never put a SINGLE grape on a slate and call it a charcuterie experience. She said, in this voice that could cut glass, 'You serve a platter. A real one. You feed people until they ARGUE with you about leaving.' And I said yes ma'am. And I have honored that promise every day of my life since. She lived to be 102. Could be a coincidence. Probably not.
Because here's what nobody understands about an antipasto platter — and I mean nobody, the food media won't say it, the restaurants will not admit it — it is not a 'snack plate.' It is an act of generosity. It is a hospitality WEAPON. You bring this out, you set it on the table, you stand back, and the room CHANGES. Voices get louder. People reach across each other. Someone tells a story they shouldn't. Wine gets poured without anyone asking. That is the entire point of Italian-American eating, and the small-plate restaurants charging $19 for three olives have forgotten it. They have forgotten the WHOLE THING. Plain and simple.
Ingredients
- 4 ozprosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced
- 4 ozsoppressata or hot Calabrian salami, thinly sliced
- 4 ozmortadella, thinly sliced(the pistachio kind if you can find it, that's the move)
- 8 ozfresh mozzarella balls (bocconcini)
- 4 ozprovolone, sliced or cubed
- 4 ozParmigiano-Reggiano, broken into chunks(break with a knife tip, never grate this on a board)
- 1 cupmarinated artichoke hearts, drained
- 1 cuproasted red peppers, sliced
- 1/2 cupsun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 1.5 cupsmixed Italian olives (Castelvetrano, Cerignola, Kalamata)(the green Castelvetrano is the star, give it space)
- 1/2 cuppepperoncini
- 1 cupcherry tomatoes, halved
- small handfulfresh basil leaves
- 1 small packageItalian breadsticks (grissini)
- 1 loafcrusty Italian baguette
- 2 tbspextra-virgin olive oil
- to tasteflaky sea salt
- 2 tbsphoney, for drizzling over parmesan(honey on parm sounds wrong, it's right, trust me)
Steps
- 1
Slice the baguette on the bias into 1/2-inch pieces. Arrange on a sheet pan, brush lightly with olive oil, and toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until golden at the edges. Cool.
- 2
Remove the cheeses from the fridge 30 minutes before serving — cold cheese has no flavor.
- 3
Choose a large wooden board or platter (at least 16 inches). Place small bowls or ramekins on the board first to hold the olives, pepperoncini, and sun-dried tomatoes. This anchors the design.
- 4
Arrange the cured meats next. Fold prosciutto slices loosely into ribbons or roses — do not lay flat. Fan the soppressata and mortadella in overlapping rows.
- 5
Add the cheeses in three different areas of the board so guests can reach more than one without crowding. Drizzle the parmesan chunks with the honey.
- 6
Tuck in the marinated vegetables — artichokes, roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes — filling gaps and adding color contrast.
- 7
Scatter fresh basil leaves throughout for color.
- 8
Stand grissini upright in a glass or lay them along one edge. Pile the toasted baguette in a basket alongside.
- 9
Finish with a light drizzle of olive oil over the cheeses and a pinch of flaky salt over the mozzarella and tomatoes.
- 10
Serve at room temperature with small tongs, cheese knives, or toothpicks.
One more thing
That's it. That's the platter. The message of the board is: welcome, sit down, eat with your hands, drink the wine, talk too loud, stay too long. People are going to remember THIS dinner. Years from now somebody is going to bring it up at a wedding — 'remember the night with the platter?' — and everyone will get quiet, and someone will say YES, and someone else will say I dream about that mortadella, and the legend will grow. You did that. You and an old Italian woman in South Philadelphia. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Bigly Antipasto Platter.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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