The LA Chop (Italian Chopped Salad)

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The LA Chop (Italian Chopped Salad)

The LA Chop is the ultimate Italian chopped salad loaded with salami, two cheeses, Castelvetrano olives, marinated tomatoes, and buttery toasted panko. Totally irresistible.

Prep Time20

Cook Time0

Total Time20

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: people

Author: Gaby Dalkin

Ingredients

For the Salad

1 head little gem or baby romaine lettuce thinly sliced
1 head radicchio thinly sliced
1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
15 ounce can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
8 ounces pearl mozzarella
4 ounces provolone diced
4 ounces genoa salami diced
1 cup Castelvetrano olives pitted and torn
1 cup artichoke hearts drained
⅓ cup pepperoncini sliced

For the Tomato Marinade

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Koster salt and dried oregano to taste

For the Artichoke Marinade

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the Panko

1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tbsp butter
salt to taste

For the Lemon Vinaigrette

¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 shallot minced
2 cloves garlic minced
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoon dried oregano

Instructions

In a medium bowl, toss the cherry tomatoes with the tomato marinade ingredients. Set aside to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, toss the artichoke hearts with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Make the vinaigrette: in a jar or small bowl, combine the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, shallot, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano. Whisk or shake well to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
Make the butter-toasted panko: heat the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the panko and cook, stirring frequently, until golden and crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the fresh oregano, and season lightly with salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the sliced lettuce and radicchio with the marinated tomatoes, chickpeas, pearl mozzarella, provolone, salami, Castelvetrano olives, marinated artichoke hearts, and pepperoncini.
Season lightly with salt and pepper. Add about half the vinaigrette and toss well to coat. Taste and add more dressing as needed.
Transfer to a large serving platter or bowl and top generously with the butter-toasted panko. Serve immediately.

Notes

Marinate the tomatoes first, everything else second. The tomatoes need at least 10 to 15 minutes in their marinade to really develop flavor and release their juices. Start them before you do anything else and the rest of the prep flows naturally.

Slice the lettuce and radicchio thin. This is a chop, not a tear. You want thin, almost shredded ribbons of lettuce and radicchio so every forkful has a little bit of everything rather than a massive piece of lettuce dominating the bite.

Soak the radicchio if it is particularly bitter. Radicchio varies in bitterness depending on the season and variety. If yours tastes very sharp, submerge the sliced leaves in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes before using. It mellows the bitterness significantly.

Toast the panko right before serving. The butter-toasted panko is your finishing crown and it needs to go on at the very last second. If it sits in the dressed salad it will absorb moisture and lose all its crunch. Make it, set it aside, and add it the moment you are ready to serve.

Dress lightly and taste as you go. This salad has a lot of bold, salty, briny ingredients already, so do not over-dress it. Start with about half the vinaigrette, toss, taste, and add more as needed. You can always add more dressing but you cannot take it away.

Let the artichokes marinate too. Even just a few minutes in the lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper makes a real difference in how they taste. They go from canned artichoke hearts to something that genuinely tastes bright and intentional.

Make the vinaigrette in a jar. Whisk together your lemon juice, red wine vinegar, shallot, garlic, and seasonings, then seal with a lid and shake. It stays emulsified longer and you can store any leftovers right in the same jar in the fridge for up to a week.

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