Italian appetizers

I thought that maybe some of you would like some ideas about what to serve together with a simple glass of good wine, not necessarily being a dinner.

Usually when you go to a wine bar in Italy, they propose a cheese table and/or sliced sausages. But let' go ahead. What else can we eat in these occasions?

1) There's a winning combination that I like a lot, and matches perfectly with a red wine. The mix is gorgonzola cheese + speck + bread. It depends on the situation. You can buy fresh bread and keep it into a basket and put aside a plate with pieces of gorgonzola and slices of speck so each one can serve her or himself. Otherwise you can cut the bread in small squares (that can be eaten in one bite) and put a piece of speck and a piece of gorgonzola, as canapès.

2) Another very simple one: grissini and Italian raw ham prosciutto crudo. Just enroll a slice or a piece of raw ham around each grissino and put them inside a bowl, like flowers. They are easy to eat and very tasty.

3) Buy a very good extra virgn olive oil and put it inside a small bowl. Buy good and fresh bread and leave it aside. Take small pieces of bread (one bite piece) and dip it into the oil. I promise: you'll want it forever!

4) Buy good olives and put some sticks to serve.

5) Buy good raw Italian sausage and cut it into slices. Add a basket of bread aside.

6) A more traditional idea? Melon and raw ham. It's a classic that always works. You can cut the melon in long slices and add the raw ham slices on it. In this case each person will need a small dish, fork and knife. Otherwise you can cut the melon in small squares and add the raw ham with a stick and it will be easier to eat with a single bite (avoiding extra dishes around). You can put them on a serving plate or do as in the 60's, covering a cabbage with alluminium and then fixing all the sticks on it.