Antipasto Salad Endive Boats - Ditch the old-school relish tray and serve these no-fuss endive boats filled with your favorite meats, cheeses, olives and veggies! | foxeslovelemons.com

Have you tried cooking with endive at home? It’s a leafy green that, believe it or not, belongs to the daisy family. I see it occasionally in restaurants, but don’t often see home cooks using it.

Belgian endive can be found in most larger grocery stores. It kind of looks like a very small, very tight, white and yellow head of Romaine lettuce.

While it can certainly be chopped up to add a bitter accent to a mixed green salad, the boat shape of the leaves practically screams “throw a party!” and “fill me with something fun and colorful!”

Antipasto Salad Endive Boats - Ditch the old-school relish tray and serve these no-fuss endive boats filled with your favorite meats, cheeses, olives and veggies! | foxeslovelemons.com

Being the Italian-grandma-at-heart that I am, no party is complete without antipasto (a selection of cured meats, cheese, olives and complementary vegetables). Here, instead of a formally arranged antipasto platter, I’ve tossed it all together to use as a filling for endive leaves.

You can use whatever types of antipasto elements you like best for this appetizer. I included salami, marinated artichoke hearts, colorful olives, Fontinella cheese and lots of other goodies.

Antipasto Salad Endive Boats - Ditch the old-school relish tray and serve these no-fuss endive boats filled with your favorite meats, cheeses, olives and veggies! | foxeslovelemons.com

More Foxes Love Lemons Favorites

Antipasto Salad Endive Boats - Ditch the old-school relish tray and serve these no-fuss endive boats filled with your favorite meats, cheeses, olives and veggies! | foxeslovelemons.com

Antipasto Salad Endive Boats

Yield: Serves 8 as an appetizer
Prep Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 package (5 ounces) fontinella or fontina cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • 1/2 medium cucumber, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 4 ounces hard salami, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 4 ounces quartered and marinated artichoke hearts, drained
  • 1/2 cup assorted pitted olives
  • 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 tablespoons capers, drained
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 3 heads Belgian endive

Instructions

  1. In medium bowl, toss cheese, cucumber, salami, artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, capers, basil, oil and pepper until well combined.
  1. Wash and separate leaves from core of each endive head. Serve endive leaves alongside antipasto mixture.

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know what you think! Rate the recipe above, leave a comment below, and/or share a photo to Instagram using the tag #foxeslovelemons.