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! 😂
New site looks good–much clearer as to how to cross-reference recipes. Formats kind of narrow on my monitor, however.
I like the new website and the ability to change the serves is mighty useful. I’d like to see a section for slow cooker meals thanks.
Hi Nagi,
Like the new website’s clean, fresh colour scheme and easy to navigate design. Especially like the 20 food photos per page without too many ads, it just works. Your videos show how easy a recipe is to do, providing both inspiration and confidence. Really enjoying cooking again, so thank you, I’m hooked, well done!
Hi Nagy, Like the new website’s clean, fresh colour scheme and easy to navigate design. Especially like the 20 food photos per page without too many ads, it just works. Your videos show how easy a recipe is to do, providing both inspiration and confidence. Really enjoying cooking again, so thank you, I’m hooked, well done!
Be still my heart, that picture of Dozer is everything! And so is this yummy recipe. I can’t wait to try it.
Nice new website, love the new layout and the tabs at the top
Ooh whizzy new site. Loads so much faster.
I wish I wasn’t allergic to tomatoes because this recipe looks good. As for the website, your old website wasn’t bad but this is much more intuitive to use and cleaner in design. Well done. My only issue is to leave a comment it states that website is a required field, not sure why though.
Nagi – congrats on your new website! Looks awesome and will make it easier for me to find ‘that’ recipe o need. Have a great Christmas and thanks for all the inspiration you have provided. I look forward to exploring your new site in much more detail when we return home from our break in Shoal Bay.
Great reworking. All recipe s more accessible
I love your new website design. Easy to get around and packed full of yummy things.
Thanks for the new recipe! Must try it! I love the tabs at the top of the page which take you straight to the recipe or video. The first thing i look at is the video so its so much easier to click on that then scroll all the way down. To be honest i did like the colours of the previous website. It seemed brighter or more colourful.
Perfect to make ahead when preparing for a party. Thank you 😊.
Great new website, easy to navigate. I know it’s all about the food but I just had to check out Dozer’s section first.
Just watched the video. Nagi, you’re good!
Your recipes are well loved by my family. I’ve been following you for years and even at work I can’t help but browse through your website to look for a recipe. 🙂 and of course, the website looks nice and easier for me to look for a particular recipe that I wanted to try.
Love the new site – it’s much easier to navigate and somehow looks clearer and brighter.
love the new web layout will be trying this for shore
Very smart site, easy to use, well laid out (and well written). I could not find any spelling mistakes but there is one glaring error….. no chapter to Dozer. Couldn’t Dozer have his own entry in the menu and in his entry perhaps some lovely photos to drool over? This is my Christmas wish. Merry Christmas Nagi 👩🍳and thank you 💋❣️🎄
Nagi!!! Your website is wonderful. It’s clean and easy to navigate. And of course, the photos are amazing. I am so happy for you and all the good things that happen to you because you (and your recipes) are a big part of our little family. 🙂 Love, all the way from Connecticut, USA