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Aside from the tomatoes, this is a total pantry salad — olives, artichoke hearts, oil, vinegar, and the option of dried herbs. If you don’t have shallots, use another member of the onion family, whatever you have around….garlic, onions, scallions, just adjust the amount to taste.
Many of the ingredients could be optional as well. No artichoke hearts? Skip them, or use sliced hearts of palm or canned or cooked frozen corn. No green olives? Use black. No olives? No olives it is.
Salad Inspired by Italian Antipasti
The inspiration for this salad is those antipasti platters you see sometimes at classic red and white tablecloth Italian restaurants or pizzerias. I loved them as a kid, and somehow feel like they have disappeared from my world, and that’s not ok. You also see antipasti salads that are lettuce based, but I had a slew of cherry tomatoes, and so moved in that direction instead.
Cherry Tomato Antipasti Salad: Inspired by Italian restaurant antipasti platters, this gorgeous salad relies on easily available cherry tomatoes and a bunch of pantry items.
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Often traditional antipasti platters include some sort of meat, usually salamis of some kind. If you want to add some slivers of sliced salami here, or little salami cubes, you should. Cubed mozzarella, or tiny mozzarella balls, or perhaps diced provolone cheese would also be a terrific addition.
What would also be lovely is to add some Italian canned or jarred pickled vegetables, known as giardiniera. Giardiniera is usually a blend of serrano and bell peppers, cauliflower, carrots, celery, and possibly some other vegetables in a brine.
I’m not saying this is a low-sodium salad. Nope. Not saying that.
Make Ahead Antipasti Salad
This is a nice make ahead salad, as it’s actually advantageous to let it sit for 30 to 60 minutes so the tomatoes and other vegetables really soak up the dressing. While you should try not to refrigerate your tomatoes ever, if you have leftovers of this salad, do store them in the fridge, and bring to room temperature before eating for lunch in the next day or so.
This would be great with Polenta with Sauteed Mushrooms, Pan Fried Pork Chops, Pan Seared Scallops, Pork Chops with Salsa Verde, or Cacio e Pepe.
Other Mediterranean Salad Recipes:
- Mediterranean Lentil, Red Onion and Avocado Salad
- Greek Salad with Flank Steak
- Green Bean Nicoise Salad
- Tomato Bruschetta Couscous
- Mediterranean Tomato Wheat Berry Salad with Fresh Herbs
Other Tomato Recipes:
- Tomato, Orzo and Dill Soup
- Summer Corn, Tomato and Bacon Salad
- Pasta with Fresh Heirloom Tomato Sauce
- A Week’s Worth of Bruschetta
- Perfect Summer Gazpacho
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Cherry Tomato Antipasti Salad
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh marjoram or oregano leaves , or 1 teaspoon of each dried
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- 3 pints cherry or grape tomatoes , halved
- 1 cup pitted and halved green olives , such as Castelvetrano
- 3 cups diced artichoke hearts
- 3 shallots , thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a big bowl, combine the olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, and marjoram or oregano. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the cherry tomatoes, green olives, artichoke hearts and shallots. Toss to combine.
- Let sit at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Crazy good! Overnight in the fridge, then set out to toom temp was deicious, but so was straight from the fridge. Pretty much anything goes with this salad. I’m about to make it again, 7 days later ; )