SAVORY Christmas LOG
An easy and quick no-bake appetizer guaranteed to be a hit: the Savory Christmas Log, the savory version of the famous Christmas Log made with biscuit dough or Pandoro.
It is a bread roll filled with a few simple ingredients: sandwich bread, cream cheese, and mortadella, a few steps, a short rest in the fridge to firm up, and your appetizer is ready to be decorated and served, a must for Christmas celebrations.
An incredibly easy recipe that requires no kitchen skills, convenient and scenic, it slightly resembles sandwich rolls. Today, to make its filling more delicious, I decided to prepare a mortadella mousse, but alternatively, you can fill it with cooked ham, salmon, salami, Russian salad, or whatever you prefer.
All you need to do is create a base with the sandwich bread, spread a thin layer of cream cheese on top to make the base more compact, prepare the mortadella mousse, which is also no-bake, spread it, roll it all up, and after a short resting time, cut it.
At this point, just like in the sweet version, once the surface is covered with cream cheese, you should ‘stripe’ it with the help of a knife to simulate the bark of a log, add some details to garnish it, and the Savory Christmas Log is ready.
A tasty appetizer perfect to serve for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas lunch, or New Year’s Eve dinner, which can also be prepared in advance and decorated at the last minute. You just need to prepare the filled roll, store it in the fridge, cut it just before serving, cover it with cream cheese, and decorate it.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 6 people
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 316.08 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 12.75 (g) of which sugars 1.84 (g)
- Proteins 13.62 (g)
- Fat 23.80 (g) of which saturated 5.47 (g)of which unsaturated 5.89 (g)
- Fibers 0.81 (g)
- Sodium 823.02 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 2 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 8.8 oz sandwich bread
- 3.5 oz cream cheese
- 10.6 oz Bologna mortadella
- 10.6 oz cow's ricotta
- 2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp liquid cream
- to taste salt
- 1 pinch black pepper (ground)
- 7 oz cream cheese
- to taste chives (pink pepper, fennel)
Tools
- Bowl
- Rolling pin
Steps
First, prepare the Mortadella Mousse. Cut the mortadella slice into small cubes, place them in the mixer, and blend for 1/2 minute, then add the other ingredients: ricotta, Parmesan, liquid cream, and a pinch of pepper. Blend everything for a couple of minutes until you get a creamy and homogeneous mousse.
Since all the ingredients are already quite savory, it’s not always necessary to add salt. Taste it and decide according to your preference; I personally almost never add it. Your mortadella cream is ready, store it in the fridge if you’re not using it immediately.
Now let’s form the savory roll. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the work surface and place the sandwich bread slices on top so that the long edges slightly overlap. Use the rolling pin on the bread to flatten and seal them together. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on the surface.
Take the mortadella mousse and spread a generous layer over the entire surface. If desired, you can sprinkle with a little pistachio granules. Using the plastic wrap underneath, close the savory log by rolling it tightly from the longer side. Seal the wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, preferably 1 hour to firm it up.
After the resting time, retrieve the filled savory roll, cut the ends of approx. 1.2 inches that you will use to form the savory Christmas log. Place the log on the serving dish and cover it with cream cheese. Position the ends on the side and cover those too. Run a fork over the entire surface to simulate wood grain. Finally, decorate as you like with chives, pink peppercorns, fennel, or whatever you prefer. The Christmas log is ready to be served.
NOTES
For the exterior coating of the log, you can decide to use the cream cheese in its pure form or flavor it. An example to flavor it is to add 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and 3 tablespoons of chives, a quick blend in the mixer, and it’s ready.
The rest in the refrigerator is important to make it easier for you to cut the roll before composing the Savory Christmas Log.
STORAGE
The savory Christmas log with salmon should be stored in the fridge, preferably wrapped with food wrap or closed in an airtight container. In this way, it remains good for 2-3 days.
