A hearty and flavorful chopped antipasto salad filled with quinoa, arugula, roasted bell peppers, salami and creamy gouda.
New Year promise : No more wimpy salads! All in?
I was obsessed with this chopped antipasto salad last week, and when I get obsessed with something, we make a huge batch of it and eat it for the whole week. This usually happens on my days off. All I do is cook on my weekends and even though it's just the 2 of us, I manage to cook for 4-6 people. Which works out since we'll eat it for lunch for the rest of the week. All those recipes I post that are enough for a family of 4?, Ya, turns into a weeks worth of leftovers.
The inspiration for this antipasto salad came from some leftover quinoa I had in the fridge. I originally planned to make a yad-yada healthy-ish quinoa salad with the usual suspects, but then in the crisper drawer of the fridge. I see the beloved...salami! And cheese, and a leftover head of radicchio..and then, the salad wheels start turning and churning and voila....antipasto salad!
These salty and briny ingredients are some of my favorite flavor profiles. Savory > sweet, any day! The bitter radicchio with peppery arugula pairs perfectly with salty salami and capers. I added roasted red peppers to help cut the saltiness and the quinoa helps soak up all the vinaigrette. Really, use whatever you have on hand like I did.
More great salads:
Greek quinoa salad with chickpeas and lemon vinaigrette
Chopped Antipasto Salad
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked quinoa
- ½ radicchio chopped
- 3 Tb capers
- 2 roasted bell peppers seeded and chopped
- 1 cup arugula chopped
- 3 oz salami chopped
- 3 oz gouda or provolone cheese chopped
- Vinaigrette:
- 1 garlic clove grated
- 1 Tb dijon mustard
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese few tablespoons
- 2 Tb balsamic vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make the salad, add all chopped vegetables and quinoa into a bowl and gently toss together.
- To make the vinaigrette, add all ingredients to a mason jar and shake well until combined. Pour about half of the dressing into the salad and mix to combine. Add more dressing if you prefer ot save the rest.
DolceSanDiego says
This Chopped Antipasto Salad is fantastic. The chopping is so well worth the effort. It's also so beautiful. And my go-to salad when entertaining. I substitute the quinoa for Farrow. Sometimes I do both. I find the Gouda cheese doesn't hold up after time to the vinaigrette so use provolone or a dense cheese.
DolceSanDiego says
This salad is outstanding and so beautiful. It's worth all the prep and chopping. You can be creative and add what you have in the refrigerator or pantry; sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, pine nuts, chopped roasted asparagus. It's already complicated with great flavors so don't overdo with too many additional ingredients.
Samantha says
I certainly agree...thank you for the suggestions!
Amy @ Frugale.org says
We try to have an antipasto salad at least 4 times a week. Love it.