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! 😂
Hi Nagi, I always thought your original site was perfect the way it was, but once again you’ve gone the extra mile. The new site is even easier to read, yet retains all the best features of the original. Easy to follow step by step recipes with excellent note explainations, with optional variations. Great pictures that add visual clarity to the written discriptions as well as build atticipation and motivation to get in the kitchen and start cooking! Tremendous diversity of cuisines and never fail recipes makes the emails from your site the one I anticipate the most! Thanks for all your hard work.
This sounds so good! I will make it for a party with friends and for a family holiday get-together. I love the new website!
Love the new site, so much better and the Italian cheese loaf will be on my new years eve table! ( and probably at a few summer bbq as well)😀
Appraising website from phone access. Very clean and once I’d scrolled down to find the recipe I was so happy to see the buttons on the top to take you straight to the bit you need in a rush. Photos amazing and quick steps handy too. Love the free from instructions (coeliac here!). All in all it’s beautiful and clean with a huge number of ways to understand how to make the dish. Only blip I found is clicking on the email photo rather than underlined recipe name took me to a different website recipe. But I love the website – exactly what you need to follow when cooking. X
Can’t wait to make this for my Wine Club. Website seems better organized and I like the look of it. Love your videos too.
New site looks great. Do you have a suggestion to replace the salami with something vegetarian ?
Website great! Pictures look awesome and the recipe index looks easy to navigate by date. Good work!
Nice and easy to navigate and it’s neat and tidy.
Love your recipes on the site, Nagi. Every recipe I’ve made over and over again.
Nicely designed and organized
The website looks great.
Your new website is beautiful and polished!
Can’t wait to try this for all my cheesy friends! You’re new website is fantastic!
My family will love this! We have drinks and appetizers on Christmas Eve and this will be a perfect addition 🙂
The new website is sleek and modern. My only suggestion is a little more colour it should be as bright and beautiful as it’s owner
Love the new website easy to navigate and browse meal inspirations.
The new website is amazing! Love it! And, the Christmas Cheese Log is absolutely beautiful and so easy to make! Thank you for sharing this exceptional holiday recipe😍
Hi Nagi. I love your new website! Your recipes are so easy to follow and the instructions are great. I am also glad to meet ‘Dozer’ and his pictures are wonderful. Keep the recipes flowing! Thanks
Absolutely love the new website…. Cannot wait to get cracking on all the Christmas recipes 🙂 It is just as bright & colourful as Christmas itself. Love the section about Dozer too. Fantastic!!
Hi Nagi I do have to compliment you on the presentation of your recipes and the detail you give each recipe. Your website is awesome and you have given me new inspiration to cook. Wishing you a happy and blessed holiday.