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! 😂
Your receipts look and taste wonderful.. Website is also great!
Merry Christmas to you and Dozer.
New website looks great, and how is it that you make everything I want to eat?! I made the Mac and Cheese for dinner guests this weekend and it was a great hit. Love the Dozer photos…Thanks for the great recipe help. I love to cook, but I am not that experienced. Your detailed recipe help makes all the difference…Jan
I love it! Great pictures. I love your easy to follow recipes and videos.
Love the new website 🙂
The new website? The gift that keeps on giving!!!!
Love LOVE the new layout! Looks great! Give Dozer some belly rubs from me.
Love the new website. I’m really interested in the Japanese section!
The site looks great!
Website looks different, I assumed you had a makeover! Looks great. Cheese log looks great too!
I like the new website very much…. and thanks for today’s picture of sweet Dozer!
OMG your new website is EXACTLY what I need. Being a mother of a 4 year old and 3 month old I really need easy to prepare meals with limited washing up. Within 2 seconds of visiting the website I found one pot meals and slow cooker meals and I must say, the ‘only quick and easy’ box is a stroke of genius. I’m impressed! This is the most user friendly food website I have ever visited. Loving your work x
Congratulations on your new website ‘s design. Thank you for your and your mom’s fantastic, easy to follow, delicious recipes that helps housewives like me prepare great meals for my family. as my daughter always says…if it’s from Nagi then it must be good. Sometimes it doesn’t look as beautiful as your finished product but i just try my best to innovate with the available ingredients we have here in the Philippines. I am really a great fan. Congratulations again
The new site is “überschaubar” sorry just didn’t find the proper translation!
Love the recipies👍
I’d love to “pinch” Dozer he is so Lovely but does he like Cats??
Best regards from Ost Friesland Germany. Jo Rubin
Hi Nagi. Love, love, love the new look and feel of your website. I love your recipes, but I have to be honest. I am in love with Dozer and enjoy your posts about him the most…sorry…LOL.
I just love all of your recipes. You make them easy and fun. I love the photos and the videos, I feel like I can actually try that! If you ever decide to put your recipes in a book I would like to purchase…
Pleased with the new website Nagi. Like your great recipes (haven’t had a fail yet) it brings everything together
Hi Nagi,
I follow your blog for several years. Your new design is superb. But your yummy recipes interest me the most 😉
Kiss from France.
Great effort congratulations. Recipes up to the high standard you present. New style makes it easy to find that special one for tonight or soon.
I look to your recipe’s regularly and have never been disappointed as you always offer variations. The new website looks fab, its easy to navigate, but what really shines is your food, the photography is amazing, it looks like you can dig right in!! Thanks so much for the inspiration! My fav meal so far is the shawarma and flat bread (I make the flat bread all the time!!)
Looks great so far! I mainly use my smartphone and I like that everything is easy to see and navigate on a small screen. Happy holidays 🙂