As a culinary-school-trained former professional chef, I rarely follow a recipe exactly in the kitchen (except when I’m baking!), but there are some recipes that are so perfect, so worthy of respect that I follow their instructions to the letter. One such recipe is Nancy Silverton’s Chopped Salad. This classic recipe requires no notes or modifications. Nancy has thought of everything.
After the birth of my second child, a friend brought this salad to our house, with each ingredient in its own deli container for me to assemble when I was ready, and when the time came, every individually-packed ingredient sang in harmony with one another, from the cubed Genoa salami to the sliced pepperoncini. Since, then, it’s been my go-to meal to take to new families. It’s so perfect in fact, that the salad can sit in the fridge, fully dressed, for a couple of days.
Chopped Salad’s Star Ingredient: Pepperoncini
As with all the best recipes, every ingredient in Nancy’s Chopped Salad has a purpose. But the pepperoncini in particular do some of their best work here, cutting through the fattiness of the provolone and amping up those classic antipasto flavors with their brininess. And for me, the brand that wins the pepperoncini choice hands down is Mezzetta Sliced Golden Greek Peperoncini.. They’ve got a cheek-puckering piquancy that’s balanced by a subtle fruitiness, and I often find myself snacking on them right out of the jar while I’m prepping the other ingredients.
I could buy whole pepperoncini and slice them myself; but why bother? I can’t think of any time when I need a whole pepperoncini (except, perhaps, to follow a slice of Papa John’s pizza), but I can think of many times when I want them sliced—for hot beef sandwiches and muffuletta, for this easy and loveable Mississippi Chicken, and for pasta salads, Greek salads, and, of course, Nancy’s Chopped.
How to Make Nancy Silverton’s Chopped Salad
Silverton introduced the world to her Chopped Salad in 2006 when she put it on the menu of her Los Angeles restaurant Pizzeria Mozza. In 2011, she shared the recipe in The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles’s Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. A few years later, Deb Perelman introduced the recipe to a new audience on her blog, Smitten Kitchen. One reader of that post summed up what we were all thinking, commenting, “This was SOOOOOOO good. I ate it for 3 days! I took it to a family barbecue where it was a big hit and it was affectionately referred to as the ‘sub’ salad. It does taste a lot like a good Italian sub which is probably why I loved it so much. The oregano dressing is key. Added almost twice as much pepperoncini because we really like it.”
Ready to follow the Nancy Chopped Salad gospel? Don’t forget the pepperoncini!
