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! 😂
I love your new site, it is pretty as the other one was,
keep up the good work
I like the new website, and I liked the old one! Cobb loaf dips seem very “in” at the moment, and your italian cheese log sounds like a yummy cheesy appetiser with much more sophisticated flavours. Cant wait to try!
Fabulous new website Nagi, congratulations! Even the notes section (which is so helpful) is better! Love it!
this recipe looks amazing will look great on my table the web page looks great so bright and colourful awesome job 🙂
New website is AMAZING… just waiting on an APP now 🙏😉
I like the new recipe collections, found a few new things I’m going to try for Christmas in the Party Food section!! 👍
Love it! The updated site makes it even more fun to browse recipes and share with friends. It’s beautiful. And fast!!
This recipe sounds/looks delicious will have to try it for Christmas or New Years. Also loving the new look to the website!
Another fantastic and delicious dish, the new website really showcases how many recipes you have shared!
Looks like another must try recipe. Congratulations on your updated website. Love the new font and the fact that recipes can still be scaled up and down.
As always thanks Nagi! You make me look like a real professional chef and my family & friends are so impressed with my magnificent meals! I used to be embarrassed to cook for my talented friends however now I’m serving up a storm. The new website is sensational – easy to navigate and full of fabulous ideas that are simple but delicious! Just they way I like to cook. Thanks again for providing me with inspiration xxx
Love the new website too. Much easier to find recipes.
Beautiful! I have not tried it yet. Maybe next week.
The new website looks fantastic Nagi, so quick to load the recipes now. I recommend your blog to anyone asking for dinner inspiration, especially my mum friends with fussy eaters😁 we love your food!
Great layout recipes are easy to find. Photos are clear and infocus. The Italian Cheese Loaf is definitely a starter on out Christmas table this year. Can see the mob enjoying it with a glass of red wine.
Liking the new website design – I didn’t mind the old one either but this one is much easier to browse past recipes.
One thing though, it took me a while to find the link to your mum’s site.
Other than that all good!
The first thing I noticed was your new logo and the colors of your new site. It’s clean and thankfully isn’t bogged down with endless advertising and pop-ups! Your site is very nice. I will certainly be trying out the Italian Cheese Log recipe among others. I had look at Dozer’s page and the baby puppy picture brought tears to my eyes… Can you please add Party Food to your Categories? I had to go back to your newsletter and click the link from the email.
Thanks for your inspiring recipes!
Nagi
Love the website
I’ve always wanted to comment on the recipes I’ve made
but I am now because that knife looks glorious
Love the new site – colorful with all the recipe pictures and easy to navigate! This recipe for the Christmas Italian Cheese Log – wow! I’ll be making this for the office party. Many thanks for all your great recipes.
The new website looks great! I love that you kept all the images still as I often can’t remember the names, but I remember what the dish looks like. Well done!
Very easy to navigate the new website. I like the recipe, video, and especially the Dozer button. Your recipes and website are great, but Dozer puts it over the top.