Chopped Salad

By CheeseDiva

Ingredients

• Oregano dressing
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 to 2 tablespoons dried oregano (Nancy recommends 2; I got nervous and used 1, but might not have minded more)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice, or juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil, ideally extra-virgin
• Salad and assembly
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas or 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
• 1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings
• 1/2 pound provolone (see Note about varieties), sliced 1/8-inch thick then cut into 1/4-inch ribbons
• 1/2 pound salami, peeled, sliced 1/8-inch thick then cut into 1/4-inch ribbons
• 4 medium or 8 small pickled pepperoncini, sliced into rings
• 3/4 pound cherry tomatoes
• Sea salt
• 1 head iceberg lettuce (see Note about size), halved, cored, and cut in 1/2-inch ribbons
• 1 head radicchio, halved, cored and cut in 1/4-inch ribbons
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano for garnish (optional)

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from smittenkitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Make dressing:

Roughly chop the garlic and then add the oregano, salt and up to 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper. Chop the mixture together and use the side of a knife or a mortar and pestle to make a grainy herb paste. Transfer the paste to a large salad bowl, and add the lemon juice and vinegar. Mix with a fork allowing the salt to dissolve, then add the oil and whisk with a fork until well combined. The dressing should be thick with garlic and oregano. If you’re using a small head of iceberg, transfer 1/3 the dressing into a small bowl to be used only if needed. For a larger head of iceberg, you’ll want it all.

When ready to serve, gently add the tomatoes, lettuce and radicchio to the salad bowl, along with a couple of generous pinches of oregano, and toss to combine with the dressing. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding any reserved dressing if needed. Serve immediately.

I’m such a fan of huge hearty salads. I usually make a massive batch on Sundays, divide it into individual containers for our work lunches, with the dressing separate to get us through the week. I bet I could tweak this to make it lats. My salami and pepperoncini loving husband would be thrilled

A very similar recipe (inspired by Mozza) first crossed my path via the tastespotting blog … and I have loved it ever since!! You are so right – the dressing really makes it taste just like an Italian sub. I often reduce the meat/cheese ratio a bit, like you mention, but I’m excited to hunt down some aged provolone like you used. Thanks for the motivation to make another round of this awesome salad!

YUM! I’ve recently become addicted to chopped salads. I don’t know why, but there’s just something so much more delicious about salad when it’s chopped up. This salad looks awesome!

Did you make the recipe for her chickpeas? They’re incredible. You know the beans are good when you have to force yourself to stop eating them plain. The first time I made them was just for this salad, but they make for incredible hummus-super smooth without having to peel, and the cooking liquid is perfect to use in the mixing.

I don’t do raw onions, but have a jar of Deb’s pickled onions from the Spring Salad with New Potatoes that I always keep around for things like this. I don’t do salami, but will probably put in some fresh herbs and maybe baked tofu. Add whatever sounds great!

Deanna — I did not, but would like to — along with everything in the book. I had found an old bag in the cabinet last week, and soaked/cooked/resuscitated them with just salted water so they were around already when I decided to make this.

Your first week in June recipes are always a smash hit in our house. Last year’s broccoli parmesan fritters have been in heavy rotation for the past week and a half (just ate a leftover one for lunch), and I decided this morning to make the roasted, marinated peppers and fresh mozzarella recipe for Shavout (hooray dairy!) that’s starting tomorrow night. And that recipe was on heavy repeat the summer that came out. There’s a pizza shop close to our house whose house salad features marinated chickpeas, pepperocini, grated carrots, black olives and a red wine vinaigrette that I’m borderline obsessed with. So this salad is just singing to me. I’m like Alex and can snarf an entire jar of those in a two day period. I always get hiccups because of the spice, but that doesn’t stop me from eating them with the fridge door wide open.

Our favorite and only takeout salad we ever do from the original restaurant which Nancy based this on – La Scala. Non-meat eaters in our family substitute tuna and add mushrooms and grilled red peppers. Leon’s original recipe which I was lucky enough to get my hands on, called for a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese in the dressing- no longer served at the restaurant but a highly recommended addition.

I am in love with this salad… Shauna (Gluten Free Girl) posted her thoughts about this salad and a link to the LA Times version a week or two ago and I’ve made it twice since. It makes a fabulous pasta salad as well :)

Such colorful pictures! I too like chopped salads a lot. In fact they seem to be the only sort I ever make.

“make a killer good dinner salad for dinner tonight”

“I managed to make it a whole two days before learning about this salad

This is almost identical to the pasta salad I make. I use everything but the lettus and dump it over pasta. Delish! It’s lunch, dinner or picnic fare for days.

I sautéed the chickpeas in a skillet with a little olive oil and za’atar so they’re warm and crispy. I like to add some blanched green beans too!

I’m a health freak so I plan to make this salad without few ingredients like salami or oil. And less salt, why not:) And of course more lemon juice – this is something that we just love to add more. I was curious about nutritional values per 1 serving after all those modifications so I checked it using HF recipe analyzer (

I have been addicted to this salad for years (and had already planned on making it for dinner tonight!) – Mozza is my “happy place.” Next time, try making with the dried chickpeas. The recipe is in her cookbook or you can find online. The homemade “ceci” takes this salad to a whole new place of happy.

I love chopped salad. The only thing this one is missing is some chopped kalamatas – especially if you are not using the salami. Adds that umami flavor that otherwise might be missing.

I made this for dinner tonight…SO good!! I love the tanginess of the dressing and the mix of flavors and textures. The perfect summer supper. I added kalamata olives, which are wonderful with the other ingredients. This will be a go-to this summer, for sure!!

Chopped salads are my favorite kind of salads! It’s so hard to beat large chunks of ingredients that aren’t drowning in greens…

Although I did just have some mixed greens plain tonight with homemade blue cheese dressing and that was amazing as well…

This is very similar to the garbage salad from Portillos, which is the fast food place you must visit if ever in Chicagoland. Plus there you get a yummy lemon poppyseed muffin on the side.

I assemble little of this, little of that salads all the time for lunch – this gives me some additions. (I love to vary them.)

Love this salad, it’s my go to when I visit Mozza!! When I make it at home I add some roasted artichokes.

Millie l Add A Little

Will make this soon…

I love that you use iceberg lettuce in this salad! I used to really look down on it, but it certainly has its place. Love this salad. Dried oregano is so strong – I’m glad you only used 1 tablespoon!!!

It’s salad season! I love the chickpeas and cherry tomatoes in this… Will let you know how it is received should we make it at home :)

Question – do you think the chickpea, onion & dressing component would hold up over the course of a few days? I would add it to tomatoes, iceberg and radicchio for each serving. I’m just thinking about how good this salad would be for my work “lunchbox.”

My Italian grandparents owned a meat market as I was growing up and my mom wod often make a similar salad for dinner – super delicious! Thanks for sharing.

I’m a closeted iceberg lover. I think it is because when I was little, my mom was really into health food and would never let us buy iceberg lettuce, so to me, it is kind of like a grown up treat! I also love anything that crunches, so that might play a part in it too. My husband refers to iceberg as the “real lettuce” and he won’t eat any other kind. This salad sounds amazing and I love that tastes like an Italian sub, I might have to add in a few crusty croutons to get my bread fix! This will be the perfect summer salad :)

What a great meal salad. Love your photos, they never fail to make me hungry. Thanks for this great recipe idea, Deb!

On a related note, and because you linked to the wedge salad: Ever since roasting cabbage and broiling blue cheese on top (my answer to St Patrick’s Day last year, because I was making corned beef and cabbage but simply can’t stand the taste or flatulent smell of boiled cabbage), I’ve been trying to work out a recipe for…don’t wretch…a warm wedge salad. I’m stuck on what, if anything, to dress it with. If I have a “eureka!” moment, I’ll let you know…

Just made this for tea and it was delish, another winning flavour combo! I do raise an eyebrow when people comment on making tasty recipes and then go on to substitute so many ingredients that it really isn’t actually the original recipe anymore…but I feel I stayed true to the spirit. I was so eager to try it; but I needed to substitute with the contents of my fridge! I heartily recommend, that if like me you have no Pepperoncini = red pepper, small gerkins and a spoonful of cream cheese. Salami = chorizo (chorizo and chickpeas are always a winning combo), totally works. As a side note sadly no onions due to my partners request of onion exclusion diet – one more week to go, recipe suggestions welcome :) Anyway this is quite the rambling first post. But I think this little winner could make a regular appearance in our household, I may even hopefully be true to the original one day. Thanks! X

Sarah: The Yves company makes as very good veggie pepperoni. Available at Schnucks grocery chain and Whole Foods.

I made this today and it was wonderful! We’re pescaterians, so I used tuna, but I bet the salami would have added a nice salty complexity to it. I followed the recipe with the exception of using half and half aged and mild provolone and adding roasted red peppers and cukes. It would have been great without those additions, too. It was so satisfying!

Made this tonight. Husband said, and I quote, “I’d like to have some variation on this every night.” Huzzah.

I read on Food52 about this tip for slicing cherry tomatoes: place them between two plastic lids (pressing the top lid to keep the tomatoes in place) and slice. Boom. If you’ve got a considerate quantity of cherry tomatoes to slice, this should save some time.

that looks amazing. it’s 10:15pm here and this post makes me feel like i’m starving

This is beyond perfect! I made it as is, it’s phenomenal, the one thing I’m going to change next time (although deb was telling the truth when she said this makes a lot so it’ll be a while til I need to make it again) is I’m going to also add giardiniera, muffulettas are my favorite sandwiches ever and this is one jar away from being the only salad I plan to eat all summer. This is also the perfect potluck/bbq salad.

This was a great dinner last night and I’m thinking of a variation for later this week based on a white bean and tuna salad — skip the pepperoncini and change out the salami for tuna, the garbanzos for white beans. Maybe a basil based dressing although the garlic would work.

I made this yesterday, and even converted someone who was originally unamused by my need to make this salad. Thank you for sharing! This recipe will be on repeat this summer when I can’t bother to cook anything on the stove.

Simply delicious. I made the dressing exactly to recipe but blended it with a Cuisinart stick blender to emulsify and thicken slightly. I am not an iceberg fan so I subbed romaine hearts. Left out the garbanzos at the request of one of my kids (I’m such a pushover, but I can take or leave garbanzos). Cheese was havarti since I already had some that needed to be used. Also, I was inspired to add grated parmesan right before serving. YUM and DONE!

notes: doubled recipe as bringing food over to friends and keeping other half for my family, didn’t put salt on tomatoes b/c somehow salty enough already (I used some local Ontario salami – maybe saltier than other kinds?) also – when doubling take your time mixing the ingredients or the pepperoncini won’t wind up even – ours was mild and theirs was HOT. Also used 1/2 the salad dressing – for the doubled amounts and cut out some of the lettuce.

This salad looks delicious! Can’t wait to make. And that taco salad commercial literally had me laughing out loud!! Thx for sharing.

making this salad for a family get together tomorrow ! .. just wondering if i prepped tonight and combined the salami, onion, provolone, and chickpeas with the dressing in the fridge if it would be okay to sit overnight? then add the lettuce and other ingredients in tomorrow before the party ? thank you !

Just a little provenance on this salad – this was inspired by the famous La Scala’s chopped salad. I believe that they use mozzarella and you can order additional goodies in your salad – my personal favorite is to add some very good canned tuna in place of the salami. Love it!

I’ve been making variations on this salad for years, and just referring to it as my Antipasti Salad. One thing I loooove adding is hearts of palm. I get it at Trader Joe’s, and slice into rings. There’s something about their slight sweetness that balances really well with the savory charcuterie.

And just think how good it would have been had I remembered to add the olive oil to the dressing? Whoops…

SWOON. I made this over the weekend and it was a hit at my BBQ. More people went back for seconds of this than anything else!! To please the vegetarians in the group, I kept the salami in a separate dish for meat-eaters to add at will, but other than that made as is. It really does taste exactly like an Italian sub, and we were all in heaven.

I’m thinking I need to make this sometime this week. And I’ll put this restaurant on my “must visit” list next time we go to see family in SoCal again. (there’s one in Newport Beach, hooray!!)

I have now made this salad (sort of – I tweaked it to adjust for personal taste) four times (the last two times I made a double batch – so maybe I should say I have made it 6 times?). It has been a hit every time. The changes I made were: added hot peppers, sun dried tomatoes, and multiple different salamis, left out the provolone and added havarti instead, added some radishes (because were left over), got rid of the radiccio (no one in my family likes this) and went all iceberg (we all like this) and in the dressing I used Zatar instead of oregano and I added some grainy mustard to the dressing. I also added some garlic croutons and shaved parmesan when plating out the “salad”. A winner

Made this last night. So good! I did the garlic in a mortar and pestle with the salt, then added the other dressing ingredients. Not sure if the true paste I got from using a mortar and pestle made the dressing extra garlicky, but I’ll cut back to maybe 2 cloves next time. I love garlic, but burny garlic is not my most favorite. That said, I’ll definitely be making it again, and I’m looking forward to eating the leftovers this week!

Added artichoke hearts to this… am marinating everything (minus the lettuce) in the dressing right now for a dinner tomorrow night. Hopefully the toppings will last that long – I keep eating them in bits…

Made this last night for a ladies’ night in and it was huge hit. Had to make some substitutions due to lack of availability of ingredients in Australia but still they ate the whole thang’. I used Havarti cheese and pickled peppers and still was just yummy. I think I might add some olives next time but really a great salad for those take a dish places, as well as, a salad ‘meal’.

It’s yummy, but Jean Leon of La Scala fame (the original from one on Little Santa Monica in Beverly Hills) deserves the credit. He created that salad almost 50 years ago. It is nice that Ms. Silverton feels comfortable to tweak it and call it her own, but anyone who lived in LA way back when knows it will always be the Jean Leon Chopped Salad. Today, we can all call it our own once we make it, eat it, and enjoy it! My fav salad for over 40 years. I never leave LA without having it at least once, sometimes twice or three times.

How long does this hold up if I make it to last the week? Would you recommend keeping the dressing out until right before I am ready to eat it?

Excellent salad! Added a tablespoon of dijon to the dressing and it knocked it out of the park!

Another hit! My husband loves this, and ew both agree that this is the perfect summer no-bake alternative to pizza. Even though I opened a can of white beans rather than chickpeas and had to substitute mâche for iceberg, this was amazing. I’m so glad I bought double the ingredients so that I can make it again this weekend! :)

Have been meaning to make this for a few weeks and finally got around to it tonight. Well worth waiting for – it’s delish plus – thanks, Deb, for another meal to add to my ‘make again’ list!

I’m totally adding some dijon to the vinaigrette — love that idea! We’ve talked abt adding some tuna to make it nicoise-y — this is pretty much becoming the ‘…and the kitchen sink’ salad in our house.

Followed the recipe exactly except the raddiocchio and it was enjoyed by all alongside a BBQ for the worldcup today :) thanks for the recipe Deb!

Made this for our card club night tonight and it was a huge hit! Embarrassing moment, if I got embarrassed, would be that I bought red cabbage instead of radicchio and didn’t even realize it til it was chopped and mixed into the salad…but I confessed my duh-moment, we laughed, debated the difference between the two, then happily pounded the salad like champs. Definitely a new staple! Thanks again, Deb!

I made this last night and it was delicious! I found the recipe on Tuesday and knew that I wanted to make it for dinner on Thursday–meaning that there would be no time to stop in a specialty store for fancy ingredients. I live in Ky, so that means that I had to use regular hard salami and provolone (aged? uh…) from the deli and the regular oregano in my spice drawer. And Kroger didn’t have radicchio. Still, so very delicious! I tossed in some handfuls of arugula, since I had it. Even my kids–age 12 & 7–loved it. Eating leftovers for lunch right now… Thanks, Deb!

Deb, how far in advance can I make this? Was thinking about tonight and serving it the next day for lunch. Also, any italian salami?

hfg — I’d say any salami you like to eat, even. With salads, I find they keep better if you only addd the dressing or dressed elements at the last minute or they’ll wilt.

deb, you hit the nail on the head with the bit about alex and the pepperoncini. that is my boyperson to a…t? tee? anyhow, no time for googling the meaning and spelling of old sayings, i must make this salad asap.

(especially because last week he snuck a bite of my salad involving field greens, blue cheese, apples, cranberries, and a pomegranate vinaigrette before i could say “no, you won’t like that!” and made the most awful face it was funny. this might make it up to him.)

toasted marshmallow milkshake