Have you ever seen a salad so party-ready as this towering meat-and-cheese-filled number? Layered with all the classic components of a muffuletta sandwich—salami, mortadella, provolone—it’s a feat of engineering and a little bit of a joke. In other words, the perfect centerpiece for a get-together (we love to serve it alongside delivery pizza and lots of wine).
It also tastes just as good as it looks. The highlight is the creamy chopped olive vinaigrette, made of jarred olive salad amped up with Calabrian chile paste, oregano, mayo, and a bit of honey; layered between every slab of crisp iceberg lettuce, it provides enough briny punch to carry the whole dish.
Eating this salad is a mess, and that’s okay! Part of the fun of serving something so tall and theatrical is letting it fall to bits while you chop it up for people. The best move is to plate it in a large, wide shallow bowl that can catch all the pieces as you carve layers off the sides. If you have a different way you’d like to attack it to serve, give it a shot. We stuck a knife or other long implement (like a carving fork or a long skewer) through the center, then cut off pieces from the sides with a serrated knife, letting them fall over in the bowl. You can use kitchen shears to cut up the pieces further if desired.
Recipe information
Total Time
30 minutes
Yield
6–8 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Heat 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high. Cook ½ cup panko, stirring often, until golden brown, 1–2 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and mix in a pinch of kosher salt. Set panko aside.
Step 2
Mix 1 garlic clove, finely grated, 1 cup store-bought olive salad, finely chopped, ¼ cup white wine vinegar, 3 Tbsp. mayonnaise, 2 tsp. honey, 1 tsp. Calabrian chile paste, ½ tsp. dried oregano, and remaining ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil in a medium bowl; season dressing with freshly ground pepper (you won’t need to salt because of how salty the ingredients are).
Step 3
Trim stem end from 1 large head of iceberg lettuce, discard. Cut head crosswise with a serrated knife into 1"-thick slabs (you should have 4). Place bottom slab in a large, wide shallow bowl. Drizzle with some dressing, then layer about a third of 4 oz. thinly sliced mortadella, coarsely chopped, a third of 4 oz. thinly sliced provolone cheese, coarsely chopped, and a third of 3 oz. thinly sliced salami, coarsely chopped, on top. Finely grate some ½ oz. Parmesan over. Repeat layering process two more times, dividing remaining mortadella, provolone cheese, and salami in half. Top with final lettuce slice, cut side down (it should make a rounded “hat”). Spoon any remaining dressing around base of salad. Top salad “hat” with reserved panko and finely grate remaining Parmesan over; season with pepper.
Recipe notes
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