Antipasto queens

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register



It’s the most-requested appetizer at any of their family get-togethers, and people have been known to eat a jar at a time - by themselves.

Antipasto.

Homemade, in a group prep-and-a-cook-a-thon, by Janet McBean, June MacNeil and Donna Pineo.

The three women work together, but started a few years ago cooking together, too.

“It was Janet - she found the recipe and gave it to me,� says Donna.

“I was at a workshop and they had it, and we just devoured it,� says June. “Let’s get together and make some.�

On a recent Saturday, the women descended on Donna’s Welsford kitchen with - yes, this is what’s in antipasto - cauliflower, olives, pickled onions, tuna, shrimp, ketchup, anchovies, mushrooms, mixed pickles and olive oil.

“The list is just gross, but when you cook it, the flavours all come together - it’s beautiful for appetizers, for crusty bread with soups...,� says Donna.

Donna and Janet both admit to not telling people what’s in the antipasto - until they’ve tried it and liked it.

Janet says shopping for the ingredients “generates comments.

“I was loading up on pickles, and an older fellow said, ‘Oh, I see you’re putting down your pickles for the winter.’ Cashiers always ask what I’m doing.�

By the time Janet gets the triple batch’s ingredients onto Donna’s kitchen table, it’s covered and the girls’ work is cut out for them - literally.

“We all have a job to do,� Donna says.

Cutting boards cover the counters, strainers fill the double sink and the food processor chops continuously. Each woman brings a large bowl or pot and gets a share of the ingredients - the hardest part to track with all the bustle. It takes about four hours to get everything ready, and then each takes their pot home to cook and bottle.

“Making pickles and things together is really conducive to a group effort,� says Janet.

“It makes it fun,� says Donna.

And, they end up with a valuable treat.

“It probably costs about $150, but divide that by three - and it’s something worth doing, it’s so good. The store stuff is terrible - it doesn’t compare.�