Sometimes, although rarely, we don’t cook big meals when the family gets together. We make a salad with antipasti on these occasions, which may be much larger than our meals.
We roll assorted meats and then cut them in half. Our favorite meats are thinly sliced pepperoni, mortadella (with pistachio), ham, salami, capocolla (gabagool), and provolone cheese. (It’s hard not to eat the slices of mortadella and gabagool. I don’t try to resist. Why?)
We use red leaf and iceberg lettuce, then add grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, black olives, and peperoncini. We toss the salad in an olive oil and vinegar dressing, pour the salad on a large, over-sized platter, and top with sliced meats. It’s heaven.

Antipasti Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 head red leaf lettuce torn into pieces (about 8 cups)
- 1 head iceberg lettuce torn into pieces (about 12 cups)
- 2 cups grape tomatoes
- 1 cup large pitted black olives
- 4 slices Italian red onion
- 2 cups peeled sliced cucumbers
- 8 or more peperoncini
- ¼ pound each mortadella hard salami, pepperoni, ham, gabagool, provolone cheese
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In an extra-large bowl or pot, add lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and cucumber. To the lettuce add pepper, salt, oregano, garlic, vinegar, and olive oil. Toss until lettuce and vegetables are well coated with the dressing.
- Pour salad on an extra-large platter; arrange meats, olives, and peperoncini.
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