There is no better way to spend a languid summer evening than by gathering with family or friends for a supper drawn from a table filled with colorful plates of delicious antipasti.

It's like eating at a trattoria in Italy: First, your aperitivo and a small bowl of olives, maybe some salumi sausage, and then a parade of fantastic little dishes prepared simply with fresh vegetables and herbs. Dishes such as farro (wheat grain) salad, or quick-grilled romaine lettuce with fava beans (or limas) and pecorino cheese, or Romano beans sauteed with fresh oregano. They're basic and light but also pretty and tasty, cooked and dressed with a little vinegar, lemon juice, good olive oil or fresh herbs. They're not meaty or heavy. And for many people, they'll be a new and revealing experience.

Nothing has to be baked or fried or stuffed or wrapped. Everything can be served room temperature.

These fresh-tasting salads aren't just your garden-variety leafy greens; they're an inviting start to a meal. Offer one as a first course, or serve a few at a time to be enjoyed by the spoonful in combination with other antipasti.

At Fraiche restaurant in Culver City, Calif., chef-owner Jason Travi serves an appetizer salad made with farro, the barleylike grain that's firm and hearty and nutty. Farro is a form of wheat that can be used wherever you would use rice, barley or other such grains; it's steamed with water or broth and is ready in 20 to 30 minutes. (Editor's note: You can find farro in Hawai'i at R. Field at Foodland and at some health food stores, and you can order it online, too.)

Travi cooks the farro with a bouquet garni of bay leaf and a sprig of thyme, adds diced roasted red pepper and blanched English peas, then tosses the grain and vegetables with tarragon, basil, mint and parsley. The whole thing gets a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice and is sprinkled with pecorino or ricotta salata, the Italian sheep's milk cheese that's mild, slightly nutty-sweet and a little crumbly. (If you can't find fresh English peas, use snow peas or sugar snaps.)

Or saute flat, wide Romano beans or slender haricots vert (green beans) with shallots, garlic and fresh oregano until the beans are tender but still have an edge of crispness. Cook them for a couple minutes more with cherry tomatoes, then drizzle over a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar.

Fava beans are another trendy food, and they're just at the end of their season. Lima beans are an adequate substitute if you can't get them. They're great with a splash of citrus and olive oil and chunks of pecorino. Match the beans with crisp charred romaine brushed with a little garlic-infused olive oil before being grilled. (Editor's note: Fava beans are sometimes available at R. Field. Fresh lima beans are sold at some vegetables stands in Chinatown and would be lovely in this salad. Or you can use frozen limas; blanch them just until they are cooked through.)

Along with sips of a grassy Verdicchio wine or an herby Arneis, these charming first courses turn that eternal wait for dinner into a magic hour of anticipation.