I love bocconcini cheese, I love roasted red peppers, I love basil and I love balsamic vinegar, so you might say that this is my idea of the perfect appetizer. You can also make it ahead and it looks very pretty.

This appetizer was featured in the Holiday 2006 issue of the LCBO’s wonderful magazine Food & Drink, but it’s also perfect for summer entertaining because it gives you an opportunity to make pesto when basil is at its height.

Bocconcini are small, semi-soft, white and rindless unripened mild cheeses. They are typically sold packed in liquid and come in a variety of sizes, from a bit smaller than a golf ball, to the pearl-sized mini-bocconcini. I couldn’t find mini-bocconcini, so I just quartered the larger ones. Tre Stelle brand contains no artificial ingredients. Pilaros makes roasted red peppers with no additives or preservatives; if you can’t find them you could always grill and peel the peppers yourself.

Be sure to use balsamic vinegar with naturally occurring sulfites or that is labeled “no sulfites added”. The recipe calls for prepared pesto, but I just whipped some up in the food processor using extra-virgin olive oil, pine nuts, garlic, parmegiano-reggiano and fresh basil.

Ingredients:

One 200 g tub mini-bocconcini
2 tbsp (25 mL) prepared pesto
Pinch pepper
2 roasted red peppers, patted dry
Aged balsamic vinegar

Drain bocconcini and pat dry; set aside. Whisk together pesto and pepper in bowl. Add bocconcini and toss to coat evenly. Slice peppers into ¼-inch-wide (5-mm) strips. Wrap each strip around 1 bocconcini and skewer onto toothpick. Repeat with remaining peppers and bocconcini. Skewer 2 bocconcini onto each toothpick, if desired. Alternatively, pierce 1 side of pepper strip through toothpick and through 1 bocconcini, then pepper and another bocconcini forming an “S” around the bocconcini. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar before serving. Makes about 17 to 36 pieces (depending on method used).

From the Holiday 2006 issue of Food & Drink