Walk into any restaurant or trattoria in Italy and you'll be greeted by antipasto tables laden with platters of colorful salads, tender seafood dishes, regional salamis and cheeses, and fresh vegetables prepared in every way imaginable. With this inspiring collection of two hundred versatile, simple-to-prepare recipes, Michele Scicolone recreates these antipasto tables at home. The Antipasto Table includes many traditional favorites passed down by the author's family as well as new interpretations based on her own travels in Italy, and even some antipasti new to this country.

Imagine a table of hot antipasti -- fresh mozzarella rolled in bread crumbs and fried until crisp outside and melted within or grilled calamari with oregano and white wine. Or sample the cold dishes -- Sicilian eggplant salad or trout marinated in olive oil, vinegar, and sage. Bread-based antipasti include taralli, fennel-laced biscuits, perfect with a glass of red wine; and bruschetta, grilled country bread topped with fresh tomatoes and herbs or Gorgonzola and pine nuts.

This marvelous cookbook also features special sections on the art of preparing vegetables and selecting the proper wines to serve with antipasti. The Antipasto Table highlights the foods that make Italian cuisine so wonderfully appealing.