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! 😂
This looks delicious!
Love the new look and the ease of finding the past recipes. I always enjoy the choice of recipes you share. They are not too much trouble, or too simple to be boring, and you make great choices to include the ingredients that make it special. Thank you, Nagi!
Website is great! I love the photos and the ease in reviewing recipes. Easy to navigate! Always great recipes! Thanks!
this looks like the perfect addition to any holiday party! The website is clean and easy to navigate. Dozer is adorable and obviously loved. Thanks Nagi – Your faithful fan – Anna W
Love the new look of you website. Brighter colors, crisper pictures, easier to navigate. Thumbs up!!!!
I do like the new website. I have to say that your recipes are so easy to make and I usually have the ingredients in my pantry. Thanks.
Like your new website but quite honestly didn’t see anything wrong with your old one. I have tried many of your recipes and not one has disappointed me. Your recipes are very straight forward and easy to follow and they come out exactly as they are pictured.
Have always loved your recipes, and now I love what you’ve done with the place!
Especially love how the numbers in the steps are more clearly numbered now… It will certainly make this wannabee chef’s follow along easier!
I really like the new website – easy to navigate and read. Looking forward to 2019!
Like the new look. Great visuals
I would say that you are in a wonderful success! It’s much more nice and delightful! Make me want to try everything more and more! All the luck 🎉🎊❤
Love the new website Nagi!! Your website is my go to as I’ve yet to make a bad meal from your recipes!! And I’ll be sure making this cheese log for Christmas.
Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and keep up the awesome job!!
We do a very similar cheese log in our family…been doing it for years and it’s fabulous! Can’t wait to try your version. Love the presentation (rosemary & tomatoes). So festive. And LOVE your new site! Very user-friendly. Thanks for all the awesome inspiration!
New website looks great! Love how I can click at the top to go right to the recipe when I’m looking up an older one. Good work, lady.
This looks perfect for a low carber like me. Can’t wait to try it.
The new website is FABULOUS. Thai chicken thighs is the first recipe that I made of yours. I found it in 2 seconds. 💕
Hi Nagi, Congratulations to the new website! It looks fabulous! The font and colors used are a fun way to look around the site, I like that it has borders around the recipe, Certainly looks grand and awesomely neat and easy to browse. Thanks for making this effort! Cant wait to try festive log recipe!
Nagi, the new website looks great–although I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the old one! As before, great dependable recipes, wonderful (and helpful) pix, hilarious Nagi humor. Thanks for the Italian cheese log idea–definitely trying that one!
Love the new web site and Dec. 17th is my birthday so hope I win the knife! Have enjoyed all the recipes and the log is yum!!!! Keep up the good work!!! Enjoy it every day!
I love what you did to your website and Dozer’s hat is cute. My mother-in-law’s dog is named Dozer, but he’s a chihuahua!
I love the new look! 👀❤❤