Years and years ago an original antipasto was not at all a salad! It was actually a huge platter filled with Italian meats, sharp provolone cheese, and fresh vegetables and peppers from the garden. A big tray filled with delicious cold cuts and fresh produce made a wonderful meal or appetizer for most! It pretty much had everything on it that you could ask for just like the charcuterie boards do that we all go crazy for in todays world! Later on down the road, especially in local pizzerias they started piling all of that deliciousness onto fresh, bright leafy greens which we now call an “antipasto salad”!! You can truly concoct an antipasto into all sorts of ways by changing a few toppings, or adding and subtracting a couple different cheeses while building your salad. The three main things you always need to have laid on top of your lettuce of choice is ham, salami, and cheese. The saltiness from these three items is what absolutely makes an antipasto have it’s delectable, addictive flavor profile that people love to pair with pizza and pasta dishes.

The perfect antipasto consists of:

• Hand cut iceberg lettuce.
• Your favorite spring mix.
• Cubed ham.
• Cubed hard salami.
• Cubed American cheese.
• Shredded mozzarella and provolone cheeses.
• Sliced roma tomatoes.
• Lupini beans.
• A mixture of Castelvetrano and kalamata olives.
• Thinly sliced red onion. I just do not think that there is another onion that’s meant for an Antipasto like a red one is.
• Halved pickled eggs. If you don’t like pickled eggs you can just leave this particular item out. Don’t replace it with a regular hard boiled egg. In my opinion, they don’t belong in antipasto’s.

Antipastos are seriously so great for any day of the week and for absolutely any occasion! They’re really awesome to put together if you’re having company over, throwing a huge party or a small one, or you just want to get rid of all of the cold cut meats in your fridge before they go bad! An antipasto is simply one of my favorite salads even though it never used to be an actual salad. The textures and flavors you get in this one specific salad are dynamite! You also just can’t beat the fact that this is the type of dish that very little will turn their nose up to even those who aren’t salad obsessed.

I am so happy to start coming back and posting weekly again! I was doing a few things with my page and it took a little longer than expected, BUT I am so happy for you Diamonds to see all of the incredible things I have coming for you this Summer! June is going to be amazing so be sure to follow at the right hand corner so you never miss a post by me!

xoxo