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Italian Finger Food for All Ages |
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Written by Ilina Ewen
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What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't like to eat with his fingers? I know I am constantly waging the "don't eat with your hands, use your fork" battle. I am Indian so my people eat with their hands. There is something to be said for food that is meant to be felt.
Mind you, I do not recommend this for Thanksgiving. Gravy tends to be a mess. Ice cream too. Let's go ahead and add pudding to the list. But there is one meal that is ripe for your fingers.
When my boys see that I set the table without silverware they know it's antipasto night. I prepare platters of proscuitto, sausage hot and sweet, mortadella, and sopprasetta. Cheese hard and soft. Pickled peppers (I tell my boys they're the ones Peter Piper picked.). Spears of cucumbers that require nothing more than a sprinkle of sea salt. Olives black and green (pitted, natch). Slices of tomatoes and sweet onion with a splash of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Creamy cheese spread (room temperature goat cheese with chopped fresh herbs or mango chutney is lovely.). Smoked salmon drizzled with olive oil and chopped fresh dill. Peppers stuffed with squishy fresh mozzarella. Roasted red peppers, pickled onions, giant caper berries. Pate. Heads of roasted garlic that achingly sweet.
And the bread. Oh the warm crusty bread so divine it does not require butter.
Our arms flail as we ravenously try to stuff a morsel of everything in our mouths. The boys love breaking our regular table manner rules and relish eating with their fingers. Bird and Deal inevitably fight over the last black olive. Mac Daddy eats too much bread. I eat the lion’s share of cheese.
Mac Daddy and I toast our red wine (Italian, of course) while the boys drink grape juice from little wine glasses I got in Germany years ago. Truth is, the glasses are so small that they are better equipped for kids anyway. The boys get a kick out of drinking their “wine,” while we get to relax for once at the table.
The grand finale: cannolis from Mr. Conti at our local Italian market! Embellished with pistachios for me and Mac Daddy. Chocolate chips and sprinkles for the boys. The kids get a culinary and geography lesson all from the comfort of the dinner table.
Buon Appetito!
PS
An added adventure is to take the kids to the Italian market. They love sampling the variety of sausages and cheese before settling on a few and sneak tastes of amaretto cookies when they think I’m not looking. They giggle at my mispronunciations of the Italian labels and like to point to all the places they want to visit on the map Italy.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 28 October 2008 )
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