Antipasto

Four miles from my home, in the little town of Blakeney, there used to be a fine Sicilian-Italian restaurant called La Dolce Vita. The name means 'the good life' and I spent quite a lot of my life there with S--, working through the menu. Even when I enrolled with Slimming World, pasta dishes could be found that were low on syns and high on taste. Then it went bust.

A few weeks later the restaurant reopened as Uncle Tony's – not the most Italian-sounding name I've ever come across but back we went anyway.  It had now acquired an American-Italian theme. Pictures of Hollywood film stars adorned the walls and the melodious tones of Frank Sinatra had replaced the Italian background music.

The menu had been simplified somewhat but the food was beautifully prepared and very tasty. One addition to the menu was a splendid antipasto and this quickly became a favourite of ours.

But there was a problem: whilst they appeared to be doing a brisk trade in take-away meals, we were often the only couple eating in the restaurant. The waiter was laid off, then the young owner announced that he was leaving to run a restaurant in London and handing over the business to his brother. A week later it closed (again).

As I write, the builders are in and we wait to see what the next incarnation will be. In the mean time, the memory of Uncle Tony's lives on in our version of the antipasto.  There must be as many antipasto recipes out there as there are people to prepare them, but if you fancy a nice simple one then this is what you do...

Start by chopping up some crispy salad leaves and a few tomatoes, then toss in a generous helping of olives. I like the green ones.

Choose three varieties of cooked meat. This time I used ham, salami and chorizo. 

Roll the meats together, then cut into slices.

Add a few dollops of your favourite salad dressing and voila! (or whatever the Italian equivalent is).