I love a big Italian salad! Crispy romaine lettuce, salty salami and cheese, salty pepperoni, and roasted garlic scraps. YUM!

This Italian salad is a hit every time.

I’m in the salad section. I love a big Italian salad in any season, but especially in summer—salami, cheese, pepperoni, everything spicy, salty, and mouth-watering.

But I don’t like to think about dressings. I’m lazy. It’s not hard, but it feels like an obstacle. I don’t know.

That’s how I make my Italian salad now—every few days, I sit outside and have a blissful lunch in the sun. It’s a bottomless salad for the olive garden but more mature, intriguing, and incredible.

We’ve got shredded romaine lettuce, chopped salami and cheese (two, if you’re me), pepperoni, paper-thin slices of red onion, and a big scoop of this golden crispy garlic slice that functions as a crouton, more flavorful and less scratchy. The crispy golden garlic bread crunched in the fragrance. Saliva.

The key component! There’s salad dressing in every crease-it comes in the form of a completely mindless, cookbook-free sprinkling and drizzle. I use 3 things:

• Good olive oil
• pepperoncini salt water
• Italian seasoning

There’s already so much good stuff here, and it tastes good, so I just started to realize – why are we making sauces for it? There’s no need—splash, splash, shake, done.

These days, I make this salad with DeLallo Castelvetrano extra virgin olive oil, which is delicious, fruity, pleasantly bitter, and peppery, perfect for the final salad. Add a squeeze bottle! Bad boy! Love, love! This makes it the perfect oil ingredient for this recipe. I feel very close to this olive oil now. We have worked with DeLallo for many years, and they produce and import the best Italian products!

Welcome to my home! Let’s make a delicious Italian salad.

1. Chop up the contents of the salad.

Salami, cheese, red onion and lettuce. (I used romaine lettuce.)

2. Make your gold Panko.

DeLallo castelvetrano Squeeze Bottle Oil is my good friend in this recipe. Squeeze the oil onto the pan, and start with some garlic powder.

Then microwave it for about a minute, stir it, and heat it for another 20-30 seconds until it turns golden brown. It’ll be hot — don’t try it yet! But add a pinch of salt and enjoy your chips.

3. Low-Key Dress Everything.

This is effortless. 3. Dress in a low-key manner.

It’s effortless. I only added 3 things: some Italian seasoning, a few squeezes of olive oil… I add 3 things: a few shakes of Italian seasoning, a couple of squeezes of olive oil…

and a splash of pepperoncini brine.

4. You’re done! Yum!

Throw the ball and serve! Or, in my case, feed yourself the whole bowl.

1. Prepare the salad ingredients: Chop the vegetables, meat, cheese, etc. in the salad.
2. For the golden crispy garlic powder, Combine the garlic powder, oil, and salt in a bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, stir, and microwave for 20-40 seconds until golden brown. (It’s going to be hot! Wait to try it.) Season with salt.
3. Toss with non-recipe dressing: Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle with oil, salami brine, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir, mix, taste, adjust, and you know what to do. Throw in those golden chips at the end! YUM!