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! 😂
Looks and sounds yummy. I can’t get enough cheese but may need to scale it down for my group.
Keep up the good work girl
Thx…. Laura
Nagi, I initially thought I had lost your website as the colours are completely different to your green and gold from before, but the updated style certainly works now that I am used to it! I think there is a little glitch in the ingredients section where sometimes the smaller light grey font contains ingredients, rather than just being optional. No biggie though. Thanks for the beatiful recipes. I cater a lot and every meal I share with guests comes courtesy of Nagi. Merry Christmas to you!
Perfect timing, this will be made for our family Christmas gathering.
The new design is sleek and easy to navigate and the recipes are much easier to read. A real winner.
This recipe was so timely! Was asked to bring a dish to a friend’s Xmas/bon-enkai party here in Japan, and this looks perfect and easy enough as I’m a bit busy as well. Love your site and the email recipies-especially from your mother- as I can easily get the ingredients here but didn’t do a lot of Japanese cooking previously. It’s like being in school! Have a great holiday season.
Hi Nagi, all the very best to you and your family for the Festive Season. The new Web Site presents it’s self very well, the minute you open it , your there! in the kitchen, raring to get going trying something new and exciting.
Thank you for all the recipes you share with us. The photography is beautiful and the taste of the food is fantastic! Love Doser! The new website is streamlined and very efficient. You write beautifully in your posts…always a joy to read.
Love your new site! Love all your recipes. This one will be beautiful during the holidays!
New site is a great place to access all your fantastic recipes.
Hi, Nagi! Happy holidays to
you. I love the new site.
Looking forward to more
fabulous treats from you
in the new year!
This recipe looks amazing will definitely give it a go. Nagi you have changed my life. After discovering you on Pinterest I have tried many of you Asian recipes and have not been disappointed once. So simple so damn tasty. I think I love you!! The new website looks good and I always look forward to your emails. Thank you so much Paul
Love the new site! Its so clean. And that appetizer does look scrumptious!!
New website looks great on mobile… I’ve been loving your recipes since I found you a year or so ago. Thanks from an expat Aussie living in Canada!
Great work – lovely clean look! For easier reading and navigation, I’d like to suggest that the entries on your drop down menus ( eg BY CATEGORY, EBOOKS and ABOUT, CUISINE etc) are left aligned instead of centre aligned; also that CUISINE list is sorted alphabetically. Just think this is easier on the reader and stops eye jumping all over. (Wonderful to see that Dozer made the transition so effortlessly :P)
Hi Nagi!I’m saved for my holiday food gift. Thanks always for the great ideas.
I love the new look. Best
of the holiday season.
G’day Nagi
New website looks terrific, have made a number of your recipes to date, the family loves em
the new colour scheme and layout looks great both on mobile and on desktop!
this recipe is the best fusion of a cold cheeseboard and a hot cheese dip. would definitely add bacon 😀
I’m not sure where my original comment went so I’m posting this one again – I literally go on you website everyday and was surprised by the new and improved website. I love this website more than the other one because it has more pics which I love.
looks awesome, I will be making this for our guests on Christmas day!!! All you recipes are fantastic!!!!
I literally look at your website everyday and I was surprised to see that it changed. The website before was good, but I like this one better. It looks good and I have noticed there are more pics which I really like. I have always wanted to comment on your recipes. Every single one I have tried has been so good….
Love the colour combination of the new website Nagi. Very clean, professional and beautiful design!