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! 😂
WOW!!!! wonderful colourful artistic and Dozer is the “Icing on the cake”
Oh Nagi, the website looks amazing! So easy to read and slick! Can’t wait to go exploring! And this recipe looks delish too!
I like to be able to adjust the servings, this new site makes it easier to see how many you are changing it to. Thanks Nagi
this is an honest review, not a put down. LOVE the bright colors. SO much easier to see. still dont like the grey scale after the ingredients LOL. the diagonal lines under nagi’s picks/chicken pulls my eye away from the topic and cuts off the edge of the meatloaf icon. glad you put in your sweet baby dozer. cant leave him out !
What a easy Christmas appetiser to assemble so thank you for this time poor cook. love the new look website and of course Dozer Santa helper.
Once again the recipe of the day is. Something I. Must make. I. Share many of Your. Recipes with my friends and now your website will make sharing even easier.
Happy Holidays Nagi! Love the new site and especially the way you can search for recipes and categories. We are also digging this fabulous idea for a make ahead appetizer. Delicious. Wishing you and Dozer a great 2019! Take Care
The new website looks really fresh and love the way the pictures look – big and colourful. The ‘quick and easy’ tick box at the top of the page is great!
Great new website Nagi – well done!
The new web site is a lot brighter and happier. The wife and I have become big fans of all the Asian dishes and the nice warm ones for winter.
Keep up the good work.
Hope Santa looks after you and mum and especially Dozer.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!
Love the new website, so much easier to get around and discover new recipies. A fabulous upgrade!
Love the new website design! So much easier to navigate.
Hello, I will definitely try this recipe for Christmas Eve but without the salami (Italian family tradition of no meat on the eve). Like the look of your new website & the font being bigger🤓. I must confess though that before I even read the recipe I scroll down to check Dozer so I’m so happy that he has his own page! 😉
Simply brilliant!
teu site ficou muito bom mesmo. Realmente ta mais organizado e claro. nota 9,8. Quero, exijo e desejo esta faca rsssssssssss. se vc visse as horrorosas que eu trabalho, me mandaria uma caixa rsssss. um grande abraço pra vcs e pro Dozer.
Love your recipes Nagi! The Italian appetizer looks especially yummy! Thanks!
Website looks fabulous. Congratulations. Not sure why I have to fill out website address field in comments section Nagi? Might want developers to look at that.
thumbs up
Just opened my eyes this morning and checked the new website. I would say that it zings with colour! Good layout and search seems to work well. Love the new icon. Looking forward to using it more over the coming season. Happy Christmas to you, Dozer and your family.
You always make everything super easy and the new website makes it even easier to find and follow recipes.