Calabrian Antipasto Board with Soppressata and Bomba
Recipes with Soppressata
The Cosenza-style antipasto board, scaled for a kitchen table. Slices of Soppressata di Calabria — sweet and spicy laid side by side — anchor a wooden plank of Calabrian salumi, pecorino crotonese, marinated peperoncini, olives, and a fierce red dish of bomba calabrese for spreading. Crusty bread torn, not cut. A glass of Cirò red. Twenty minutes of cutting and arranging, an hour of slow eating.
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
0 min
Servings
4
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 120g Soppressata di Calabria DOP piccante
- 120g Soppressata di Calabria DOP dolce
- 100g capocollo di Calabria, sliced
- 200g pecorino crotonese, in chunks
- 1 small jar bomba calabrese
- Handful marinated Calabrian peperoncini (cherry peppers)
- Handful green Calabrian olives in brine
- 1 small jar marinated eggplant or zucchini
- 1 small dish of 'nduja for spreading
- Half a loaf of crusty country bread, torn
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 bottle Cirò Rosso
Steps
Take both soppressatas out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Cold-from-the-fridge slices are rubbery; room-temperature ones bend.
Peel the casing from one half of each soppressata. Slice both on a slight bias, 2-3 mm thick. Fan the piccante slices on one side of a large wooden board, the dolce on the other — guests should be able to tell them apart at a glance.
Slice the capocollo thinner — 1 mm — and lay in a loose ribbon between the two soppressatas. Break the pecorino into rough chunks with the heel of a knife; do not cube cleanly. Place a few chunks beside the meat.
Spoon the bomba calabrese into a small terracotta dish with a small spoon stuck in it. Same for the 'nduja. These are the two heat sources — both go ON the bread, not on the meat.
Tuck the peperoncini, olives, and marinated vegetables into the gaps. Drizzle a thread of olive oil across the cheese. Tear the bread into rough pieces and pile in a basket beside the board.
Pour the Cirò into glasses. Eat slowly. The pattern: torn bread, smear of bomba, slice of soppressata folded on top, bite, sip of wine, repeat. No order, no pacing required. The board is meant to last an hour.
Tips
If you cannot find both dolce and piccante, get the piccante and add a separate plain salami (Milano or Felino) for the mild balance. Real bomba calabrese is much hotter than the supermarket version — start with a thumb-tip smear, build from there. The pecorino crotonese can be substituted with any well-aged sheep pecorino, but never use cow's-milk parmesan; it's too dry and assertive for this composition.