An Inspired Antipasto Salad

It's interesting how ideas come together for a meal.

We had a huge dinner last night at our favorite Serbian restaurant called Three Brothers with a group of friends.  I ate a delicious Serbian salad and also shared spinach burek for the firest course, had a combination plate of stuffed grape leaves, Sarma with pickled cabbage, Chevapchichi and apple strudel for dessert - oh my happy but aching tummy! Today, I knew that dinner would have to be early and on the lighter side but the taste of those wonderful Serbian Chevapchichi sausages still lingered in my mind and on my taste buds.

This morning, I was looking at an email of the weekly specials from my favorite grocery store and saw that their homemade Italian sausages with provolone, parsley and peppers were on sale...which made me think that they could be mighty tasty in an antipasto salad and also satisfy my continued craving for the Chevapchichi I had last night.

After looking over several antipasto salad recipes, I combined the parts that I liked best from each and came up with my own version of antipasto salad.

Even though it was chilly and rainy outside, it was the perfect end to my weekend!


Antipasto Salad 
Loosely Adapted from Food and Wine and Giada deLaurentis
Printable Recipe

Serves 2 for a main course salad or 4 as a starter salad

1 small head of romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 small head of Boston lettuce (or the lettuces or your choice), same prep as above
1 can of cannelini beans, rinsed and drained on paper toweling
4 Italian sausages with provolone and peppers, grilled, cooled and sliced on the diagonal (or any Italian cured deli meat such as salami cut into bite-sized pieces)
4-6 ounces of Provolone cheese, cubed
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe below

Red Wine Vinaigrette

¼ cup good red wine vinegar
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 heaping teaspoon chopped shallot
Pinch of dried red pepper flakes
Pinch of dried oregano
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Mix the vinegar, honey, shallot, red pepper flakes and oregano and whisk. Gradually blend in the oil until emulsified. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper, to taste.

Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl, add enough red wine vinaigrette to coat lightly, toss and serve.

Enjoy!

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