Antipasto Salad Bowl

When I have large family dinners (20-24 guests) for the holidays I always make my antipasto platter! Everyone looks forward to it! I serve this before the main dish. I usually make the antipasto salad on a platter or a casserole tray. For smaller gatherings I decided to make individual servings in lettuce leaves. That way everyone gets a little bit of everything! Sometimes with a large platter, my guests will pick out certain items! When that happens some guests don't get all the items they want! So these individual serving bowls solves that problem! And they look so cute! You can add whatever you like to yours, but below I'll show you how I make mine!

INGREDIENTS;

1 head iceberg lettuce

1 small red onion-sliced thin

1 small jar roasted red peppers-sliced into thin strips

1 small jar spanish olives

2 medium tomatoes-sliced into rings

1 english cucumber-sliced thin

8 deli cooked ham slices-thin

8 deli hard salami slices-thin

8 deli provolone cheese slices-thin

12oz. italian salad dressing *click here for recipe*

DIRECTIONS;

Crack the core of the head of letuce on the counter to loosen. Then remove the core and a few outer lettuce leaves.

Slightly loosen the outer leaves and wash under cold running water. Then gently peel away each whole lettuce leaf being careful not to tear them. I usually get at least 8 large leaves from 1 head of lettuce. Place the leaves on a very large serving platter.

                       ~~~~~~~~TO ASSEMBLE~~~~~~~~~

Place one slice of each of the deli items in the bottom of each lettuce leaf. This creates a barrier so that all of the marinated ingredients won't make the lettuce soggy, while stored in the fridge.

Then layer all the other ingredients on top of that, in any order you wish. Use about 3 pieces of each item, in each salad bowl. I just try to make it as colorful as possible by not putting similar colored ingredients too close to each other.

Then cover the platter with plactic wrap and refridgerate until ready to serve. When ready to serve make sure to pass the salad dressing to your guests, so they can sprinkle it on their salad.

I have made this salad 24 hours in advance. It keeps very well in the fridge.