🍽️Chopped Italian Salad with Pepperoncini Vinaigrette (Serves 4–6 as a side)

Serves: 4–6 as a side Time: 20 minutes, no cooking Flavor: sharp, briny, garlicky, cheese-forward Type: Side salad — built to cut through a rich baked pasta

Eighty-plus recipes in the vault and not one salad. This is the one worth having: everything chopped to the size of a chickpea so each bite gets all of it, dressed in a vinaigrette built on pepperoncini brine instead of plain vinegar. It exists to stand next to lasagna and cut the richness, and it is aggressive enough to actually do that. Vegetarian as written; salami goes on the meat plates only.

Ingredients

Salad

• 2 romaine hearts, chopped into ½" ribbons
• ½ small head radicchio, thinly sliced (optional, but the bitterness earns its place)
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
• 4 oz provolone, cut into small cubes (fresh mozzarella pearls also work)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• ½ English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
• ½ small red onion, sliced paper-thin
• ⅓ cup sliced pepperoncini, plus 2 tbsp of the brine for the dressing
• ¼ cup Castelvetrano or Kalamata olives, sliced (optional)
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan
• Flaky salt and black pepper

Pepperoncini Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp pepperoncini brine
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 small garlic clove, grated on a microplane
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ¼ tsp kosher salt, black pepper

Protein Options

• Vegetarian: the chickpeas and provolone are the protein
• Meat: 3 oz sliced salami or soppressata, stacked and cut into ribbons — added per plate, never tossed into the bowl

Instructions

1. Tame the onion. Drop the sliced red onion into a bowl of cold water and let it sit 10 minutes while you do everything else. Drain well. This pulls the raw bite out and is the difference between "nice" and "why is this onion attacking me."
2. Vinaigrette. Whisk the pepperoncini brine, vinegar, grated garlic, Dijon, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Stream in the olive oil while whisking until it thickens slightly. Taste — it should be noticeably sharper than you'd expect a dressing to be, because the lettuce and cheese will blunt it.
3. Chop everything to the same size. Roughly chickpea-sized. This is not fussiness; it's the entire reason a chopped salad works.
4. Dry the chickpeas well on a towel. Wet chickpeas dilute the dressing and slide off the fork.
5. Toss. Combine romaine, radicchio, chickpeas, provolone, tomatoes, cucumber, drained onion, pepperoncini, and olives in a large bowl. Add about two-thirds of the vinaigrette and toss thoroughly. Add more only if it looks dry.
6. Finish with grated Parmesan, flaky salt, and a good grind of black pepper. Serve immediately, with the salami ribbons in a small bowl alongside.

Tips & Variations

• Dress at the last minute. Everything except the lettuce can be chopped and refrigerated hours ahead — combine and dress right before it goes to the table.
• Toddler version: set aside a small plate of plain cucumber, provolone cubes, chickpeas, and halved tomatoes before dressing. It's basically a snack plate and she'll eat all of it.
• Buy romaine hearts, not a loose head — they keep well over a week in the fridge, which matters if this is landing on a Saturday from a Monday shop.
• Make it a meal: double the chickpeas, add a can of tuna to the meat portion, and serve with bread.
• The vinaigrette keeps two weeks in a jar. Make a double batch.