italian
salads
vinaigrette
olives
salami
tomato
lettuce
provolone
peppers
dinner
lunch
make-ahead

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Chef Scott Conant's make-ahead Italian-American-style antipasto salad is packed with salami, provolone, olives, tomatoes + peppers.

"This kitchen sink-style salad is inspired by the huge platters of antipasti we would start every holiday meal off with when I was a kid. That abundant mixture of flavors and textures—from creamy cheese to salty meat to piquant peppers to crunchy vegetables—is recreated here in chopped-salad form, topped with an herby oregano vinaigrette. Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients: once all of the elements are prepared, the salad comes together in an instant. All the different tastes are key to getting that particular Italian-American family flavor—whenever I make this for lunch, my wife says she feels like she's in Brooklyn again." —Scott

Adapted from Peace, Love, and Pasta by Scott Conant. Copyright © 2021 by Scott Conant. Used with permission by Abrams. All rights reserved.

Invite friends over for an easy Italian-inspired feast that starts with this salad, moves on to Scott Conant's Spinach Ricotta Gnudi with Tomato Sauce and Crispy Guanciale and ends with Rach's 5-Minute Tiramisu Fake-Out.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pimento stuffed green olives, sliced crosswise into thirds
  • ¼ cup Gaeta olives or any black olives, pits removed, roughly chopped
  • 6 sweet peppers, blistered over an open flame, skin removed, and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
  • ¼ cup finely diced white or yellow onion
  • ½ cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
  • 3 stalks celery, hearts cut into ¼-inch-thick slices, plus ½ cup celery leaves
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • ¼ cup sundried tomatoes in oil, drained and thinly sliced
  • ½ teaspoon Calabrian chile
  • ¼ cup thinly sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers, plus ¼ cup brine from the jar
  • ½ cup Genoa salami, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • 2½ ounces provolone cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup red wine vinegar
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves (optional)
  • 3 heads butter lettuce, leaves separated

Yield

Serves: 6 to 8

Preparation

In a large mixing bowl, combine the olives, sweet peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, celery stalks, chile pepper, salami, and provolone and toss well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the juice from the pepper jar, the olive oil, vinegar, dried oregano (and fresh oregano, if using). Toss the dressing with the antipasti. Set the antipasti aside at room temperature or place in the refrigerator to let the flavors marinate at least 20 minutes before serving.

When ready to serve, arrange the butter lettuce leaves on a platter and spoon the antipasti mixture on top, being careful not to break the lettuce. Sprinkle the celery leaves on the very top. The dressed antipasti mixture will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, but do not combine it with the lettuce until the very end, as the acid from the dressing will cause the leaves to wilt.