How to Make Chopped Antipasto Salad with Homemade Italian Dressing

An antipasto salad

Antipasto might sound like it means without pasta, but in Italian, "anti" means before and "pasto" means food, so antipasto is something served before the main meal. An antipasto salad is a cold dish. The number of each depends on how many guests you are serving, but you should use a variety of vegetables, meats and cheese.

Things You'll Need

• Cucumbers
• Plum tomatoes
• Mushrooms
• Red onion
• Assorted colored bell peppers
• Black olives
• Green olives
• Pepperoncini
• Hard salami
• Cooked salami
• Pepperoni
• Ham
• Capicola
• Provolone
• 2 cups olive oil
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1/2 basil
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons onion powder
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

1. Cut the cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds. Slice each half lengthwise into thin strips and then dice. Dice the plum tomatoes, mushrooms and red onions.

2. Slice the pepperoncini into thin strips. If the olives are small you can add them as is, or you can slice larger olives or rough chop them.

3. Cut thick slices of the ham, salami, cooked salami, capicola and pepperoni, then dice. Do the same to the provolone but do not mix it in. Save the provolone until just before serving because the liquid from the mixture will start to break the cheese down over time.

4. Mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar and white vinegar. Add the sugar, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder. Mix with wire whisk vigorously. This will make a little more than 4 cups of dressing.

5. Pour the dressing over the mixture and mix well. Before serving add the diced provolone. Serve over romaine lettuce with a side of Parmesan cheese.

Tips & Warnings

• Definitely make this the day before you need it. It is time consuming, for one thing, but it will taste much better if it marinates in the dressing over night.

References

• Incredible Language: Does Antipasti Mean No Pasta?
• Merrian-Webster: Antipasto