An antipasto plate can contain vegetables as well as meats and cheeses.

Creating an antipasto paste can be as simple or as complex as you want. In Italy, the dish is served before the meal and often consists of cured meats, cheeses, anchovies and more. In today’s Italian restaurants, such as Il Sogno or Ristorante Grissini, antipasto options also include grilled vegetables, marinated olives, roasted peppers, caponata and other vegetable dishes.

In the above platter, perfect for vegetarians or as a vegetable complement to a cheese tray, grilled asparagus, roasted yellow tomatoes, oven-dried roma tomatoes with garlic, and slivers of roasted peppers are fanned around marinated olives mixed with a few strips of roasted red bell pepper.

The secret to creating the plate is grilling one type of vegetable at a time because the cooking time for each is different. For the asparagus and the honey gold tomatoes, use a grill tray or basket, so nothing will slip into the fire.

For the asparagus, trim the ends off each spear, then coat all in oil and season with salt, pepper and a little lemon juice. Place over a low heat and monitor closely because the spears will cook quickly.

The honey gold tomatoes need to caramelize until the sugars inside are even more intense and the skins begin to shrivel slightly.

For the oven-dried tomatoes, cut the romas in half and scoop out the seeds. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with a little olive oil. Salt each half and top with minced garlic. Place in a 250-degree oven and let cook slowly until they are dry yet soft.

Char multi-colored peppers on the grill. Place in paper bags and sweat until the skin can be removed easily. Then slice into strips and layer like flower petals onto your plate.

The olives are a mixture of various olives marinated for several hours in a touch of orange juice and olive oil with a little rosemary to season it. Add a few garlic cloves, unless you use garlic-stuffed olives, and strips of roasted pepper. Heat, if desired.

Serve the whole tray, with the possible exception of the olives, at room temperature. These foods are soft and silky, so use the appropriate tongs or forks for serving.

For more tips on grilling vegetables, click here.

This recipe makes enough olive salad for eight muffuletta sandwiches. It originally appeared in Food  & Wine magazine and comes from Emeril Lagasse, by way of Sandy White, who grew up in New Orleans and now lives in San Antonio. “To be honest, ever since I found this recipe, I make my own and I think the final product is much better than any of the versions available,” she says.

Olive Salad

5 ounces (1 cup) pimento-stuffed olives, sliced, plus 2 tablespoons of liquid from the jar
6 ounces (1 cup) giardiniera (pickled Italian vegetables) chopped, plus 1 tablespoon of liquid from the jar
2 tablespoons capers, drained, plus 2 teaspoons of liquid from jar
3 ounces Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced (see note)
2 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley or fresh
Pinch of dried thyme
Pinch of dried red pepper
½ cup olive oil

Mix the olives, giardiniera, capers, garlic, shallot, oregano, parsley, thyme, red pepper and olive oil, and allow to set for at least 1 hour to allow the flavors to meld.  This salad will keep for a very long time in the refrigerator.

Note: You want to slice/chop the olives and vegetables to a size where they will stay on the sandwich, but not so fine that you lose the texture.  You want to rinse off the Kalamata olives in order to minimize transfer of black to the cauliflower in the vegetable mix.

From Sandy White/Emeril Lagasse/Food & Wine

The muffuletta, a round submarine sandwich with olive salad on it, is a New Orleans creation dating back to the early 1900s. “This chunky, salty, almost spicy dip does credit to its inspiration,” writes Sally Sampson in “Party Dips!”  It can also be made a day ahead.

New Orleans-style Muffuletta Dip

1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives, drained
1/2 cup pitted brine-cured black olives (such as Kalamata), drained
1/4 cup coarsely chopped red onion
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 to 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil or parsley leaves, to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried Greek oregano
Juice of 1/2 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce, or more to taste
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Place the olives, onion, garlic and basil in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Transfer to a small mixing bowl and stir in the oregano, lemon juice, mustard, Tabasco and mayonnaise until well combined. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to overnight to let the flavors develop.

Upon removing from refrigerator, mix well, transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Serve with pita chips or thin slices of toast.

From “Party Dips!” by Sally Sampson

This winter warmer is great during the game or any time.

Bean and Olive Soup

1 cup dried white beans
5 whole cloves
5 peppercorns
5 allspice berries
1 ham hock
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ripe black olives (not canned), seeded and cut into wedges
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Cover the beans with water and soak overnight.

Drain the beans and place them in a kettle. Add 1 1/2 quarts water. Tie the cloves, peppercorns, and allspice berries in a muslin bag and add to the kettle. Add the ham hock, onion, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours until the beans are tender.

Discard the muslin bag of spices. Remove the ham and cut the meat from the bone. Dice the meat and return it to the kettle with the olives. Reheat. Mash a few of the beans to give body to the soup. Adjust the consistency by adding more water. Sprinkle with parsley.

Makes 5 servings.

From “The New York Times Cookbook” by Craig Claiborne

“This super-easy and fast dish is a play on saganaki, a typical tavern dish where you melt cheese by grilling, broiling or pan-frying,” says Michael Psilakis in “How to Roast a Lamb: New Classic Greek Cooking.” Omit the optional sardines and it’s purely vegetarian.

Warm Feta With Tomato, Olive and Pepper Salad

1 small Spanish or sweet onion, thickly sliced
Kosher salt, to taste
Cracked black pepper, to taste
9 caperberries, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons capers
9 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
9 cracked green olives, pitted and torn
9 Kalamata olives, pitted and torn
1 small red onion, roughly chopped
2 fire-roasted red bell peppers, home-roasted or store-bought, roughly chopped
9 Greek sardines or white anchovies, diced (optional)
9 small, picked sprigs dill
9 small, picked sprigs parsley
9 leaves fresh basil
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil mixed with 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon dry Greek oregano
12 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3 warmed or toasted pita breads, cut into wedges

Brush the onion slices with a little olive oil and season with kosher salt and pepper. On a hot grill pan or in a cast-iron skillet, grill the onion until tender and slightly char-marked. Separate into rings.

In a large bowl, combine the grilled onion, caperberries, capers, tomatoes, olives, red onion, roasted peppers, sardines or anchovies (if using), dill, parsley and basil. Drizzle with oil and lemon juice, season with kosher salt and pepper, sprinkle with oregano and toss the salad until evenly coated.

Variations:

• Grill a couple of sirloin steaks and after resting, scatter with some crumbled feta. Then make the salad as above and pile it on top of the steak.
• Grill a pounded, seasoned chicken breast and top it with feta, broil to soften – but not melt – the feta, and top with this salad.

Makes 10 to 12 servings as a meze, or appetizer.

Adapted from “How to Roast a Lamb: New Classic Greek Cooking,” by Michael Psilakis

The phone just rang. It was friends announcing they were going to drop by to deliver some presents. You just got off work and haven’t a thing to serve them. Or so you think. The following are easy appetizers that you can create out of items you may have in your refrigerator or pantry that will make it seem as if you were expecting company.

Some items to keep on hand:

• Chips and salsa. This is San Antonio. Any questions? You can liven up the usual mix with a jar of black bean dip, but even that’s not necessary if your salsa and your chips are good.
• Tins of anchovies, sardines, smoked oysters and other seafood favorites, as well as canned pâté, that some guests will enjoy.
• Several types of crackers, including soda crackers, Wheat Thins and Triscuit, so guests have a choice.
• Three or four distinctly different cheeses. These can range from a soft cheese, like a triple crème, to a harder cheese, such as Manchego. They don’t have to fancy, either. Aged cheddar, a smoky Gouda, a spreadable goat cheese from Texas, a block of Swiss, Colby and Monterey Jack all have their fans.
• Sliced salami of various types, from pepperoni to Genoa to spicy Hungarian styles, and prosciutto or ham are great to have on hand. Also stock up on a couple of mustards you can offer to dip them into.
• Bread of some sort: Cocktail rye slices, pumpernickel, pita bread, flour tortillas and baguette are among the easier styles to serve at a moment’s notice.
• Popcorn. Try seasoning your popcorn with various flavors, from black truffle to Cajun spice to Parmesan cheese and pepper. It takes only minutes to pop a fresh batch in a Dutch oven, which tastes so much better than the stuff that comes out of the microwave.
• Jars of pickled or preserved vegetables and fruits. Roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, cornichons, giardinara and even pickled brussels sprouts are at most area supermarkets. The olive bar is a great place for easy snacks. Ethnic stores offer an even wider variety, including baby eggplants, grilled zucchini and radish.
• A piece of ripe fruit to go with the cheeses. Pears, apples and oranges are all in season now and full of flavor.
• Dark chocolates. Have a bar of 70 percent dark chocolate, another of 85 percent and a third with some sort of flavor. Break off a few pieces of each for a comparison tasting. Serve with dried cranberries, raisins or nuts on the side.
• Good olive oil, good balsamic vinegar.
• Dried fruit and nuts. Mix them together with a touch of coconut or serve them separately.
• Chex Mix. Some snacks are classics for a reason. With this party mix, it’s the irresistible combination of Worcestershire sauce, butter and garlic powder on top of cereal, nuts and pretzels that make it so appealing.
• Keep a bottle of white wine or sparkling wine in the refrigerator or a six-pack of beer, so you are ready with drinks. Reds are easier to have ready since they should be served at around 65 degrees or so; if the bottle is a little warm, pop in the refrigerator for a few minutes before opening.

Here are some quick appetizer ideas:

• Wrap a radish with an anchovy. Skewer with a toothpick.
• Drain assorted olives, rinse and warm in the oven with a little olive oil, your favorite spices, some citrus zest and a skewer of fresh rosemary.
• Take slices of sour dough rye, layer with feta, then ripe tomatoes and fresh herbs. Drizzle a little olive oil on top and some freshly cracked black pepper. Or top the cheese with slices of pear and black pepper.
• Top slices of cocktail rye or pumpernickel with butter, Swiss cheese and slivers of radish.
• Roll and slice of prosciutto or black forest ham around a tender raw stalk of asparagus. The ham also works wrapped around a crunchy dill pickle.
• Offer slivers of smoked salmon and cream cheese on cocktail rye or pumpernickel. Serve with diced onion or chopped hard-cooked egg and a touch of fresh dill.
• Top toasted slices of baguette with hummus and crown with strips of roasted red bell pepper, herbs, toasted pine nuts, olive slices or a touch of spice, such as sumac or Chilean merkén.
• Nachos, fresh from the broiler, are always welcome.
• Baked brie in puff pastry is easy to assemble and always welcome. Just follow the directions on the package of brie. Serve with crackers and fruit. Or, just heat the brie up, either in the oven or microwave until it’s warm and softened and starting to ooze out of its casing. Top with a big handful of thinly sliced scallion.
• Boil your own shrimp, which taste so much better than those processed shrimp rings, and serve with a homemade cocktail sauce that has just enough horseradish and lemon to give it a kick.
• Another appetizer that can be made in a minute flat is to open up an 8-ounce package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, mound on top of it as much fresh jumbo lump crabmeat as you can afford, then empty a jar of good (cold) cocktail sauce over the crab. Very good with crackers.
• Bagna cauda is a quick-and-easy Italian butter dip that’s great with vegetables. Click here for a recipe.
• Make bagel pizzas. Slice the bagel in half, top with your favorite pizza sauce and garnish with shredded mozzarella cheese. Pop under the broiler until the cheese melts, 2 or 3 minutes. Add pepperoni, bell pepper or mushrooms, to taste.
• Make a dip mixing equal parts 8 ounces each of salsa and cream cheese at room temperature. Whip together until full incorporated. Top with a confetti of diced red onion and green and red bell pepper. Serve with bagel chips.
• Make quick quesadillas by using shredded cheese between two flour tortillas and your choice of filling. Add cooked beef fajitas or grilled shrimp, and it’s so much the better.
• If you have any leftover Holiday Cran-Raspberry Sauce or sweet-spicy jelly, pour it over cream cheese.
• This recipe for crab dip comes from my late sister-in-law, Jeanne Servais: Clean 7 ounces crab meat, mix it with 8 ounces cream cheese softened at room temperature, 1 tablespoon sour cream, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce and1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce. Mix well and bake in a greased, oven-proof dish at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
• If you want to use your slow cooker, then here’s a good one to mix together. Grease the dish first, then add 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese softened at room temperature, 1 cup milk,2 1/4 ounces sliced dried beef and1 tablespoon dry mustard. Mix well. Heat on low for several hours until melted together. Serve with cubes of good bread on fondue sticks or wooden skewers as well as vegetable sticks.
• If your guests like a mix of sweet and salty, then place individual butter pretzels (the little square kind)  on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Then place a single unwrapped Rolo candy on each pretzel. Top each candy with pecan half. Bake at 250 degrees until the candy is melted.  Allow to cool or refrigerate before serving.
• Don’t forget one of the simplest of all appetizers: A shallow bowl of extra-good, extra virgin olive oil, seasoned as you like it, with kosher salt and cracked pepper, herbs, a few hot pepper flakes. And, have slices of very fresh baguette to dip into it.

(Photo: Zsuzsanna Kilian)

These frightful-looking treats are basically just nachos, resembling the famous Shypoke Eggs made at Timbo’s burger restaurant in San Antonio.

Scary Hairy Eyeball Nachos

Oil for frying
6 small corn tortillas
6 slices cheddar cheese
4-6 slices Jack or provolone cheese
6 pitted green olives
Red food coloring
Salsa, if desired

Heat oil in large skillet. Fry small tortillas in oil until crisp, drain on paper towels.

Line the tortillas up on a bake sheet. Turn the oven on “broil”. With a jar lid or rim of a drinking glass just a little smaller in diameter than the tortilla, cut 6 rounds of white cheese from the slices. Use a smaller rim, cookie cutter to cut the smaller rounds of cheese from the cheddar slices. (I used the top of a spice jar to cut these.)

Put a round of white cheese on each tortilla. Top each with the round of Cheddar. Slice up the pitted green olives to make the center of the eyeballs. If desired, you can use a toothpick to “paint” on the bloodshot eyes.

Put the nachos under the broiler until the cheese is just melted. Serve with salsa, if desired.

Makes 6 appetizers.

From Bonnie Walker

Warm Mixed Olives

Serve this easy dish as an appetizer or a relish alongside the main course.

1 pound assorted olives, such as Kalamata, Gaeta and Picholine
1 small tangelo cut into small pieces
Several pieces of tangelo peel cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Drain the olives if in brine. Combine the olives, orange, orange peel strips, rosemary, fennel seeds, corainder seeds and red pepper flakes, and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Heat the oil in a skillet, add the garlic and sauté over medium heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the olive mixture and simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Makes about 3 cups.

Adapted from “The Vineyard Cookbook” by Barbara Scott-Goodman/Zaca Mesa Winery

Barbara Scott-Goodman’s “The Vineyard Cookbook” (Welcome Books, $24.95) is the type of cookbook I generally hate. The recipes are from numerous vineyards, which all too often means they call for pretentious ingredients none of us is like to keep in our cupboards. You know what I mean: ground duck breast, ciliegine (cherry-sized balls of fresh mozzarella), fresh goat’s milk or persimmon purée.

Plus, the recipes are divided into seasons, the times of year when the ingredients should be available. But whose seasons? Not South Texas’, that’s for sure. We have heirloom tomatoes available at various times in spring, summer and fall, not just in the summer when her recipe for Heirloom Tomato, Basil and Feta Cheese Salad appears.

I’ve never seen fresh peas here. Does that mean I’m not to make the Linguine With Fresh Asparagus and Peas (click here)? Not on your life. This is a dish you can make with asparagus any time of year and frozen peas.

Warm Mixed Olives

Yet, when I started to look at the recipes, my appetite took over and I embraced “The Vineyard Cookbook” in a big way. Why? Because the recipes are largely easy yet elegant, relying on the freshest ingredients prepared in the simplest ways possible. Nothing’s too fancy or fussy. And the photographs show you how beautiful these recipes can be on your dinner table.

These are the types of dishes you expect the people at wineries like Chateau St. Jean, Paraduxx, Nickel & Nickel or Willamette Valley Vineyards really eat when people aren’t looking. Though, I do have to ask, where are the recipes from Texas wineries? Maybe in the next edition.

My work space would drive my mother crazy. It’s a card table with the laptop on it, and it’s filled to overflowing with all manner of cookbooks, references, notebooks, business cards, calendar, etc. None of it is in what you might call order. In fact, to the untrained eye, it looks like Hurricane Ike blew through once again.

I try to keep it as neat as possible, hoping that the anal retentive gene that I have in other areas will someday mutate to this one. But it doesn’t happen. Should I attempt to clean it, I end up getting lost.

I tried that last week and still haven’t found the thank-you notes that I had written but have yet to address, stamp and post. (Sorry, friends; believe me, I’m truly grateful for your kindnesses. The notes are just going to have to wait a few more days.)

Maybe they’re under the DVD cases in the mix, movies from the library that I like to play while I work. That stack is over with the unemployment information that I also keep on hand since I have a tendency to search for jobs at any hour.

There’s a fine filter of bird dander, a few feathers and several kernels of dried corn from my pet cockatoo, who generally sits on my shoulder as I stare at the screen while waiting for inspiration. He’s sitting there now, hoping I’ll go get a snack that he can share with me. (That means more crumbs of some sort, as J.B. is probably a sloppier eater than I am.)

In recent weeks, the collection has spread to the chairs around me. I can see a stack of books, including “101 Sangria & Pitcher Drinks” and the Frugal Gourmet’s tome on Italian cooking on one, a pair of James Beard’s on another. Escoffier is in the chair at my left, along with a book on sake rice wine and an 80-year-old volume on what to do with apples.

Again, no rhyme or reason, yet I know where they all are. So, if a friend asks a question about capers, I can just pick up Gerogeanne Brennan’s “Olives, Anchovies and Capers” on my right and send back a reply. The answer: Fennel, Orange and Caper Salad with your choice of how much of each to include with a simple dressing of olive oil, sherry vinegar and a sprinkling of minced flat-leaf parsley.

The main thrust of my cookbook collection is scattered through the rest of the house, even the bedroom, but as unclassified as they are, I almost always know where to find the volumes on Southern cooking or the volumes devoted to all manner of Spanish cuisine.

You’d never believe any of this if you were invited to the house. The AR party-giver gene takes over, and things are arranged more neatly. I even dust on occasion. There may still be stacks of theater books lining the hall (recently displaced from their home in a shakeup that has yet to be settled), but they’re out of the way and they do let you know that a die-hard bibliophile lives here.

In parting, I’ll leave you with a tasty morsel from the mess, a recipe from Janet Mendel’s “Tapas and More Great Dishes from Spain,” an invaluable little book I picked up more than 10 years ago while visiting the Costa del Sol. It’s a great dish for those of us who love eggs at dinner as well as breakfast.

Baked Eggs, Flamenco Style (Huevos a lo Flamenco)

Olive oil
11 ounces (1 1/3 cups) tomato sauce
3 1/2 ounces ham, chopped
8 eggs
2 tablespoons cooked peas
Strips of roasted red pepper
Slices of Spanish chorizo sausage
8 asparagus tips
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Oil four (or individual oven-proof ramekins and divide the tomato sauce among them. Sprinkle a little chopped ham into each. Break 1 or 2 of the eggs into each ramekin. Sprinkle on a few cooked peas, criss-cross the top with red pepper strips and set a chorizo slice next to the egg. Top with asparagus tips. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and parsley. Bake until whites are set but yolks still liquid, about 8 minutes.

Makes 4 supper servings or 8 tapas servings.

Adapted from “Tapas and More Great Dishes from Spain” by Janet Mendel