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! 😂
On my phone, but I love the font!
Great party food. Plan to make it for an open house this holiday season. I’ll try a vegetarian version to please the greatest number of folks.
Love the new website! So streamlined and pretty. It really makes your photos pop!
Hi Nagi, Love your site. Recipes are great and I appreciate the fact that I can print out those ones special to me. Merry Xmas to you and Dozer.
Love your new website design and recipes add to my “living Cookbook” program with ease.
Also love Dozer! 🙂
love the new look.
At midnight I decided to make some meatball subs for dinner tomorrow and typed in your site and thought- what is this!?!? I am old and cranky and set in my ways so I already miss the old green site but am sure will love your new format. Great pic btw!! Am I entered in the knife contest?!!!?
Yes! This looks very festive, and sounds delicious 🙂 Will def be making this! Nagi, your recipes are awesome, I have made many of them, and I have pinned far more of yours than recipes from any other source! New website is beautiful. Merry Christmas from Beautiful British Columbia 🙂
Love your new website Nagi! Your recipes are the best. Your photos so beautiful.
Who doesn’t LOVE cheese-balls and the like, especially at this time of year! Looking forward to trying this one this year. Great looking site but even better recipes! Thanks Nagi!
Great recipe!
Absolutely love the new website, the recipe index is really helpful and the overall look is great.
Love love the new website ! So easy to navigate on my phone and the photos are amazing !
I am from Sri Lanka and following your recipes for the last 4 years. Favourites are your asian recipes. New website is more user friendly.I will be visiting Sydney in Feb 2019 for 6 months and if you have a restaurant there, will like to visit.
love your new look I have cooked numerous recipes from your site and everyone who eats them loves them. I also love Dozer We have 6 fir babies so know how important they are. 4 black Labs and 2 tri Shelties. Couldn’t live without them.
Anyone not partial to salami, might consider pepperoni instead, too–or toasted pepperoni. I sometimes crisp pepperoni in the toaster oven or regular oven to use in lieu of crumbling bacon for some things. It crumbles as well, and tastes similar to bacon when toasted, but adds a nice little kick.
I’ll be making the cheese log just as it’s written, though, because it is just perfect for us that way. I’ll be making it for parties, taking it to parties, and giving it in smaller portions as gifts, too. I hadn’t known I needed this recipe–but I really did! Thanks so much!
Change is as good as a holiday, I think you’ve done well! Merry Christmas 🙂
Whoa, Nagi, your new layout is fab. I was getting quite adept at the old one, but this is sleek! You continue to create mouth-watering dishes…none have ever flopped for me. Also…kudos for featuring our beloved hound, The Doze! Loved to read about his history with you. I can’t have a dog now so keeping up with you and Dozer is so welcome. Blessings, dear girl, my far-away Aussie pal and cook-mate.
Hi Nagi, I love the new website. I like the links in the recipes that take you to the different sections (recipe, video & Dozer). Love the recipes by category and how each category has a type of dish such as Chicken. Especially love how it’s also categorised by cuisine and dietary type.
The only thing I can think of that would improve your website is to have sub categories for some cuisine. For example, under Asian Category, have a category for Thai, Korean etc
Love your website’s be it the old or the new!!! New is a little easier for a 70 yr old grandma, but hey, have to keep trying new!!
I love your new website and find it very easy to navigate. Your recipes are wonderful and always a hit with my family. Can’t wait to make this cheese log, it looks delicious! Thank you so much for all of the notes you include after your recipes. They have prevented me from making some mistakes and given me ideas to change it up a bit if I want. I really enjoy seeing Dozer he never fails to make me smile! Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!