Simple Italian inspired pre dinner party nibbles

This is such a simple yet yummy mix of Italian nibbles, perfect for pre dinner drinks. All you need is to focus on top quality ingredients as they will speak for themselves and make you look good.

Going clockwise:
1. Bruschetta classica; top quality stalk tomatoes, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and a little salt & pepper. Chop the tomatoes into small cubes, add the chopped basil leaves, 2 tsp oil, mix. add salt + pepper. You can also give this finished mix a quick 2 sec blitz with a hand held blender, this will make it all the more creamier, only make sure you still leave whole bits so it doesn't become a soup/sauce.
2. Fresh olives, these might be hard or even expensive to  find but so very worth it, if not only just for their colors and shapes. You wont need many so go the extra mile rather than buy the rubbery regular ones.
3. Toast some slices of baguette, or other good chewy bread you might have at home already. Crackers will also do well for this.
4. Really you could use any cheese, I used an aged pecorino, parmesan, chevre, taleggio, the list is endless.
5. Tapenade, see my post on how to make, basically its all based on olives, black or green or both, and then you add what ever you like: capers, nuts, fresh herbs, (garlic - 1/3 of a clove so you don't end up blowing away your guests), lemon or orange zest, sun-dried tomatoes, etc. Salt is usually not even needed, but a bit of fresh pepper is always good.