Kick off the holidays with this festive Christmas Appetiser – an Italian Cheese Log! It’s like an antipasto platter in dip form packed with minced salami, olives, peppers, green onions, a hefty dose of Italian seasonings, AND topped with sun dried tomato.
Terrific easy, make-ahead economical alternative to expensive cheese platters – and bursting with the holiday cheer!!!
A FESTIVE CHRISTMAS APPETIZER IDEA!
Bringing on some Christmas cheer with this festive Italian Cheese Log!!
It’s a far cry from your usual cheeseball with a handful of token flavourings. This one is jam packed with flavour…. loaded with Italian flavours!!
The secret ingredients in this are finely chopped salami and sun dried tomato. Taking the time to mince the salami really makes a difference because then it’s all throughout the cheese log – nobody wants to be that person who takes a giant scoop of dip only to find it’s completely devoid of salami!
As for the sun dried tomato – well, I contemplated putting it in the cheese log, but I simply couldn’t resist how great it looks when piled on top. Add a few sprigs of rosemary, and it just looks so fabulously festive – it’s a perfect Christmas appetiser for sharing!! 🎄🎄🎄
WHY YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE!
It would be so easy to ramble on and on about how great this Italian Cheese Log is, but you don’t need that. So let me just get right down to why you’ll love this!!
✅ Looks fabulous – a great Christmas appetiser made for sharing!
✅ Tastes incredible – packed with flavour!
✅ Easy
✅ Make ahead – keeps for up to a week*
✅ Makes loads
✅ But can also be scaled down
✅ Economical alternative to expensive cheese platters
✅ Adaptable and versatile! Skip the salami to make it meatless, change up the add ins!
* Subject to shelf life of salami
AN ANTIPASTO PLATTER – IN CHEESE LOG FORM!
I just love the colours in this. Even making it brings on the holiday cheer – look at all those colours! ↑↑↑
We’ve got salami, olives, chargrilled peppers (I like to use the jar with mixed colours – yellow and red – just for extra colour), cheese, and a nice hit of freshness from minced green onion.
Add a good dose of Italian seasonings – I like to make my own simple mix here but you can absolutely substitute with an Italian seasoning mix – then simply mix it all together, scrap into a loaf pan or freeform it into the shape of a log and refrigerate.
The refrigeration time is to firm it up so it can be turned out onto a platter and also to give it time for the flavours to meld. It’s terrific made on the day, but it’s even better the next day… and the next… and the next!
QUICK FESTIVE LOOK
Decorating it is my favourite part – the beauty of it being that it’s so easy!! I literally just dump an entire jar of sun dried tomatoes over the top – oil and all.
The oil is infused with flavour and it’s part of the overall eating experience. So with every bite, you have crisp salty crackers, the soft flavour packed Cheese Log, some extra pops of flavour from sun dried tomato AND juiciness from the sun dried tomato oil.
Ahhhh, it’s the perfect bite!!! 😇
If your people are more civilised than mine, then consider serving this Italian Cheese Log with small cheese knifes to spread onto crackers.
But if your people are like mine, you’ll skip the cutlery and just let everyone dive in with their hands, grabbing crackers and dunking it straight into the cheese log.
Yep, it’ll get messy. All that effort you go to, prettying it up and they are going to annihilate it.
And that’s totally ok. That’s what sharing food is all about, right?? Especially during the festive season! 😂 – Nagi x
MORE CHRISTMAS APPETISER IDEAS!
CHRISTMAS APPETISER – ITALIAN CHEESE LOG!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Christmas Appetiser: Italian Cheese Loaf
Ingredients
Cheese Log:
- 500g/ 1 lb cream cheese , softened (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup sour cream (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp EACH thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, black pepper OR 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, salt, red pepper/chilli flakes (adjust to taste)
- 2 cup cheddar or other cheese , freshly grated (Note 3)
- 280g / 9 oz roasted peppers , drained and finely chopped
- 180g / 6 oz salami , finely chopped (Note 4)
- 3/4 cup green olives , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup green onion , finely minced (3 – 4 stalks)
Topping/serving:
- 220g / 7 oz sun dried tomato strips with OIL , roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley , finely chopped (or chives)
- Rosemary sprigs (decoration)
- Jatz or other crackers , for serving
Instructions
- Spray a loaf pan with oil then line with cling wrap with overhang.
- Mix Cheese Log ingredients together. Taste and adjust salt if needed (bear in mind saltiness of crackers you are serving with).
- Scrape into loaf pan and level surface, pressing to remove air pockets. Smaller pan = taller loaf.
- Cover with cling wrap overhang and refrigerate for 4 hours+ (up to 1 week).
- Turn out onto platter, peel off cling wrap.
- Top with sun dried tomato and pour over oil. Garnish with parsley and rosemary sprigs to give it a festive look.
- Best to serve closer to room temp than fridge cold. Serve with crackers! Knives for smearing optional – it’s soft enough to scoop with crackers.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Cute Christmassy photos of Dozer is all part of the Christmas tradition. Except…… he fell asleep mid photo shoot! 😂
Dear Nagi,
Your new website is totally awesome, and that ‘s saying a lot, since I’m a web and graphic designer.
I am a great fan of your designer recipes and since I’m also a dog lover and Yorkshire Terrier breeder, I love your heartwarming little Dozer anecdotes. He’s the cutest!
Keep up the great work!
Happy Holidays
Terry Van Kirk
Thanks for this cool recipe! New site is nice.
Recipe looks easy enough for me to make and love the new look of your website. Easy for me to read. Also, great videos.
Merry Christmas
Love your new site, so we’ll laid out! 🌟🍾🥂😍 🐾
I didn’t think your site could be improved but you’ve done it. Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes – but the thing I enjoy most are your stories and insights.
Hi Nagi, I love your new website. The cheese loaf looks super tasty. I’m definitely trying it New Years.
I’ve tried a lot of your recipes, great instructions.
Love your site. The only place I find recipes that I know we will like. You have brought new life to our kitchen. The new website is super! Love all the extra pix of Dozer.
Love the new site! Navigation is so easy and I enjoy the “Dozer” button. I can get an update on Dozer, then read the recipe.
Wonderful recipes! Italian Cheese Log looks terrific. Will try it soon. Thanks for all your hard work: Recipes always seem very true to directions and delicious.
I love your new website. It looks amazing. This will be a great recipe for our family potluck Christmas Eve.
Thanks for the new recipe, Nagi. Looks delicious and easy to make. Keep ’em coming!
Kudos on the new website! Very easy to navigate and I love how you can jump straight to Dozer!! 😀
Love your web site but love your recipes more!!! Always a winner. Thank you
Hello Nagi, The new site is easy to use and of course we still have Dozer. Love the one of him asleep in Christmas photo shoot. Christmas recipes look appertising.
I will be making this recipe for Christmas Eve, I do love the new website, will be much easier for me to search a category. Merry Christmas to you, Dozer(love him so much) and your family!
Love your new web site. Great recipes
Love you, love the site!
Big thanks, Nagi! As a new homemaker after spending years working in the corporate world, I was clueless (and hopeless) in preparing meals daily, and you have come to my salvation.
Thank you for the new website design, it looks awesome and definitely helps me to search for ideas when I want to be ahead of the game to do meal planning!
Great job, Nagi, and big thanks once again!
I love the new website and this receipe looks amazing. We are having a Christmas Eve party and I’m excited to try it.
This recipe looks very tasty. I will be traveling and unable to try it out. Went on your new website and gave it a test drive and found everything working just fine. It is in my saved file.
I saw your new website today while trying to choose light and quick dinner! (it was chicken stroganoff:)) .I have my all times favorites here, and always like to try new ones! Site is really nice, beautiful pictures, and easy to find things! The only thing – I would like to see cooking time together with pictures (without going in each recipe), but maybe it is only my preferration, as most of the times I have limited time to make meals:) P.S. I must say i also love your mothers japanese racipes:) Good luck Nagi! And hello to Dozer!