Italian Chopped Salad, Dinner with Jess

Original recipe:

PREP: 20 MINUTES | COOK: NIL | SERVES: 6 side servings

2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped
½ medium head of red cabbage, finely chopped
½ medium red onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quatered
⅓ cup stemmed and thinly sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers (I subbed with red capsicum)
⅓ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup (4 ounces) ¼″ cubes of provolone cheese (optional)

⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil (or use the oil from the sundries tomato jar if you can)
⅓ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
10 twists freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
Pinch of red pepper flakes, for heat (optional)

In a large serving bowl, combine the chopped lettuce, red cabbage, onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, red capsicum/peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas and cheese (if using). Toss the ingredients together and set aside.
To prepare the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a jar, replace the lid tightly and shake until blended. Test, and add more salt to your taste if desired.
Serve and enjoyI leave my dressing in the jar (so classy!) so everyone can help themselves according to their dressing taste preference.

My comments:

If there was something that needed using up in the fridge I’ll make swaps. Once didn’t have celery but needed to use up some cucumber, so included that instead.
I had no idea what a pepperoncini peppers was so just subbed for red capsicum instead. When I looked into it though it was a chilli, so totally missed out on the spicy aspect, oops!
I used the oil from my sundried tomatoes as the oil base for the dressing
Yummy and filling. If I’m feeding a crowd I cook some quinoa or cous cous and add that to it as well to bulk it up a bit
Satisfying enough that I can use as both a main salad or a side salad
A substitute for provolone cheese would be mozzarella cheese (but I found feta also works in this salad if you already have some handy)

Dinner with Jess