The Best Antipasto Salad
Prep
15m
Cook
0m
Total
15m
Bigly says
Sit. Pour yourself a coffee. We're doing this right. The antipasto salad — the greatest single bowl of food in the entire Italian-American canon, and I have eaten more Italian-American food than any single human being on this planet, more than the critics, more than the chefs in the white coats with the attitudes. An old Italian woman cornered me once at a wedding in Hoboken and made me promise to do this salad correctly. I promised. I keep my promises. This salad, my antipasto, beats every single one I have ever had. It's a slaughter.
Antipasto means 'before the meal' — many people don't know this, MANY people, even people who eat at Italian restaurants every week don't know this, sad — and the whole idea is that you load up a platter with cured meats, cheeses, marinated vegetables, olives, pepperoncini, all the salty crunchy briny stuff, and you eat it while you wait for the pasta. But here's the thing. Here's the SECRET. The antipasto IS the meal. It's better than the pasta. I'm sorry. I'm not sorry. It's just true. Look at it. Look at all those colors. Look at the salami. Look at the provolone. Look at the artichoke hearts. The pasta is fine. The pasta is great, actually, I love pasta — but the antipasto is BETTER. End of discussion.
Now, the so-called chefs out there — and I'm not naming names, I don't need to, you've seen them on TV with the spiked hair and the catchphrases — those people will tell you to put iceberg in your antipasto. ICEBERG. In an antipasto. A disgrace. An insult to the entire concept. Picture me looking directly into the camera right now: we do not use iceberg. We use romaine. We use radicchio for the bitter pop. We use the RIGHT things. If your chef tells you otherwise, find a new chef. It's just a fact.
Ingredients
- 2, about 6 cupsromaine hearts, chopped(romaine, not iceberg, for the love of everything)
- 1 small headradicchio, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cupscherry tomatoes, halved
- 4 ozGenoa salami, sliced and torn into bite-size pieces
- 3 ozsoppressata or capicola, sliced
- 4 ozprovolone (sharp/aged), cubed
- 4 oz, drainedfresh mozzarella pearls (ciliegine)
- 1 cupmarinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
- 1/2 cupjarred roasted red peppers, sliced
- 1/2 cupCastelvetrano olives, pitted(the bright green buttery ones — accept no substitutes)
- 1/3 cupKalamata olives, pitted
- 1/3 cuppepperoncini, stems removed
- 1/4 smallred onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cupfresh basil leaves, torn
- 1 tbspfresh oregano, chopped(or 1 tsp dried)
- 1 clovegarlic, finely grated
- 1 tspdijon mustard
- 1/4 cupred wine vinegar
- 1/2 cupextra-virgin olive oil
- to tastekosher salt
- to tasteblack pepper, freshly ground
Steps
- 1
Soak the sliced red onion in cold water for 5 minutes to mellow its bite, then drain and pat dry.
- 2
In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the red wine vinegar, dijon, grated garlic, oregano, a pinch of salt, and several cracks of pepper.
- 3
Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking (or seal the jar and shake hard) until emulsified. Taste and adjust.
- 4
In a very large bowl, combine the romaine, radicchio, cherry tomatoes, salami, soppressata, provolone, mozzarella pearls, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, both olives, pepperoncini, and the drained red onion.
- 5
Add the torn basil. Pour about three-quarters of the dressing over the salad and toss gently but thoroughly to coat.
- 6
Taste, add more dressing if needed, and adjust salt and pepper. Be careful with salt — the meats, olives, and cheese are already salty.
- 7
Serve immediately, or let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes so the flavors marry. Pass any remaining dressing at the table.
One more thing
This is the salad you put on the table when people come over and you want them to know you mean business. You don't apologize. You don't say 'oh it's nothing.' You set the bowl down, you step back, you let it speak for itself. Salami, three kinds of cheese, two kinds of olives, the briny pop of pepperoncini — the bowl is doing CARDIO. The bowl is in the gym. Other people bring a bag of chips, you bring this, you have won the dinner party before the dinner party has started. That's how it works. That's how Bigly does it. Tremendous.
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