Is there any restaurant that you absolutely loved in your pre-gluten free life that you feared you’d never eat at again? I’m sure I’m not alone when I say ABSOLUTELY. I’m pretty sure each and every one of us has a similar anecdote, remembering our life before gluten was discovered as the source of our pain. Sadly, many a restaurant I’ve not been back to since going gluten free. However, there are those restaurants that have come through for us gluten free folk, like one of my all time favorite restaurants, Carmine’s. Carmine’s, which has locations in NYC, Las Vegas, Bahamas, Atlantic City, and Washington D.C., is a family style Italian restaurant that offers delicious food in an environment filled with a love and family atmosphere.
I first met Carmine’s early on in our marriage before I removed gluten from my diet. It was love at first bite. I just loved the family sized style of serving, plastering gigantic sized menus on their walls rather than passing them out at the table (check out the pic below!), and finally my favorite feature is the overwhelming feeling of family that you get just from walking in the door, kind of like a big Sunday dinner at your grandmom’s house.
It was such a memorable first visit to Carmine’s and I imagined so many more in the years to come in our marriage. Little did I know that my world would change drastically in the next few months. Fast forward a year from then and I was now eating gluten free, scouring the internet to see what my dining out options may or may not be. I couldn’t help but to check Carmine’s, a place that we enjoyed not too long ago as newlyweds. Much to my surprise they offered a gluten free menu, as well as a number of other allergen free menus too! Check out their fantastic gluten free menu here!
I can’t explain how happy I was after I’d found out that Carmine’s had a gluten free menu. Better yet though, their gluten free menu wasn’t just their normal dishes minus sauces and sides, only offering plain pieces of meat or gluten free pasta, but they were their actual, mouthwatering dishes! I have to admit that after finding out this glorious news about Carmine’s we’ve enjoyed many a gluten free dinner since, especially while pregnant. Amazingly, I can still get my favorite dishes from before, just done to be gluten free now. My typical meal when we dine at Carmine’s is the Carmine’s Salad, Vodka Rigatoni, and the Titanic for dessert (this is a massively huge brownie ice cream sundae but so much more than just that, and was certainly a gluten free pregnant woman’s dream come true!), each of these dishes are made to be shared by the entire family but no worries, our comfy twosome make do just fine and always had leftovers for the next day.
Since Carmine’s isn’t a local restaurant that we can go to every weekend (tear), which I know I know makes it even more special when we do go, I purchased their cookbook to make my gluten free versions at home. Now, even though I love each and every part of our Carmine’s meal, I’ve yet to recreate the vodka rigatoni and titanic dessert, but I had to attempt the Carmine’s Salad. This salad is not just a boring, regular salad. Despite it’s intimidating size when it’s plopped down in the center of your table, it is loaded chock full of fix-ins from assorted meats and cheese to loads of veggies and different leafy greens! My favorites in here are the mortadella, provolone, and roasted red peppers!
With recipe in hand, I recreated our favorite starter at Carmine’s but making a gluten free Lindsay version. After some washing and chopping, I throw it together, mixing in lots of the veggies with the leafy greens and laying the meats and cheeses atop to add that pretty presentation factor that Carmine’s is known for. I tend to leave the dressing to add on per plate along with some of the wetter toppings like the roasted red peppers and pepperoncinis to prevent any sogginess if we have leftovers, which we always do. This is an amazing appetizer or main course, definitely a crowd pleaser in both presentation and taste!
Note: This recipe is for a family sized salad (feeds about 4-5 people), so feel free to scale down or up according to your needs.
Ingredients:
- Head of iceberg lettuce
- 2-3 handfuls of arugula
- 2-3 plum tomatoes quartered
- 1 small cucumber, chopped into bite size pieces
- 3 tbsp of roasted red peppers
- 1/2 medium sized red onion sliced
- 1/4 pound chopped provolone cheese
- 1/4 pound chopped mortadella
- 1/4 pound chopped genoa salami
- Handful of large green olives
- Handful of large black or kalamata olives
- Handful of pepperoncini
- Vinaigrette or I prefer Olive Garden Italian Dressing
- Optional add ins: thinly sliced radicchio and you can even swap out the arugula for watercress but I prefer arugula
Directions:
- Wash all vegetables thoroughly.
- Chop 1 head of iceberg lettuce and 2-3 handfuls arugula into smaller pieces.
- Peel and chop 1 small cucumber into small, bite size chunks
- Cut 2-3 plum tomatoes into quarters or smaller slices if you prefer.
- Slice 1/2 of a medium red onion into thin slices and separate rings.
- To a large mixing bowl (make sure you use a large one so you can mix together the ingredients), add some of the leafy greens and chopped veggies and mix them all together, setting the rest aside to scatter on top to make a very pretty, Carmine’s like presentation.
- Next up, roughly chop up a 1/4 lb of the mortadella, genoa salami, and provolone. Make sure you pick out gluten free brands of these. There are a lot of prepackaged salamis and provolone that you can purchase that may mark gluten content on the label, if not you can call the company. As far as the mortadella, I had to order this one at the deli counter, selecting the Black Bear version that I know is gluten free.
- What I like to do, similar to the veggies, is mix in some of the meats and cheese into the salad mixture and put the rest aside to layer on top for a pretty presentation.
- Once all of the pieces have been washed, chopped, and either mixed in or set aside, add your mixture to a large serving dish. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a larger dish on hand, but if you can, use a shallow, wide and long dish that you can really see all of the different ingredients in the salad!
- Scatter the onion and cucumbers on top of the salad.
- Add the green olives and black or kalamata olives, scattering them across the top.
- Now, layer each of the meats and cheese, along with the tomatoes in sections on the salad, do in whatever order or pattern you’d like.
- Now, you can either top the salad with the pepperoncini scattered around and the roasted red peppers placed in the center on top of the meats or you can leave them in separate serving bowls on the side. I recommend keeping them separate if you don’t anticipate eating all of the salad and would like to save for leftovers, it just keeps everything dry without becoming extremely soggy later on. However, if you have a larger family or making this for a party, add those babies on top and it’ll complete a beautiful salad!
- As far as dressing, I do the same for this one, keeping it separate. However, for a large party, I would add to the mixing bowl and mix in the desired amount before plating it on the serving dish. As far as what dressing I use, I’ve tried to make the Carmine’s vinaigrette at home but haven’t loved how it’s turned out so I go with one of my favorite dressings that really adds to the salad, Olive Garden’s Signature Italian Dressing. Use whatever dressing you love though, I would recommend to use a vinaigrette or a lighter dressing of some sort.
- And voila! Here’s your finished product! I left the roasted red peppers and pepperoncinis aside so we could add them on as desired since I knew we’d have leftovers for the next day to enjoy. TIP: Here’s where a shallow but wide and long serving dish is fantastic because you’d be able to see all of the amazing additions underneath the beautifully chopped meats, cheese, and tomatoes on top. No worries though, it all tastes the same, so use whatever dish you have and arrange the ingredients in whatever fashion you’d like!
This is by far one of my favorite salads that I’ve ever enjoyed and I’m a big salad person. The mixture of the meats and cheeses is amazing and I just love the iceberg lettuce with the arugula mixed in as well. This makes for a great summer dinner and can serve as an appetizer or a main course. Also, it’s an incredibly filling meal with all of the special additions. I have to say, although it satisfied my Carmine’s craving, it did make us both eager to return to Carmine’s for another meal in the near future. So I guess we’ll have to get planning, but for now I have my cookbook in hand and the gluten free versions that I’ve created over the years!
Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Lindsay
- Head of iceberg lettuce
- 2-3 handfuls of arugula
- 2-3 plum tomatoes quartered
- 1 small cucumber, chopped into bite size pieces
- 3 tbsp of roasted red peppers
- 1/2 medium sized red onion sliced
- 1/4 pound chopped provolone cheese
- 1/4 pound chopped mortadella
- 1/4 pound chopped genoa salami
- Handful of large green olives
- Handful of large black or kalamata olives
- Handful of pepperoncini
- Vinaigrette or I prefer Olive Garden Italian Dressing
- Optional add ins: thinly sliced radicchio and you can even swap out the arugula for watercress but I prefer arugula
- Wash all vegetables thoroughly.
- Chop 1 head of iceberg lettuce and 2-3 handfuls arugula into smaller pieces.
- Peel and chop 1 small cucumber into small, bite size chunks
- Cut 2-3 plum tomatoes into quarters or smaller slices if you prefer.
- Slice 1/2 of a medium red onion into thin slices and separate rings.
- To a large mixing bowl (make sure you use a large one so you can mix together the ingredients), add some of the leafy greens and chopped veggies and mix them all together, setting the rest aside to scatter on top to make a very pretty, Carmine's like presentation.
- Next up, roughly chop up a 1/4 lb of the mortadella, genoa salami, and provolone. Make sure you pick out gluten free brands of these. There are a lot of prepackaged salamis and provolone that you can purchase that may mark gluten content on the label, if not you can call the company. As far as the mortadella, I had to order this one at the deli counter, selecting the Black Bear version that I know is gluten free.
- What I like to do, similar to the veggies, is mix in some of the meats and cheese into the salad mixture and put the rest aside to layer on top for a pretty presentation.
- Once all of the pieces have been washed, chopped, and either mixed in or set aside add your mixture to a large serving dish. I didn't have a larger dish on hand, but if you can use a shallow, wide and long dish that you can really see all of the different ingredients in the salad!
- Scatter the onion and cucumbers on top of the salad.
- Add the green olives and black or kalamata olives, scattering them across the top.
- Now, layer each of the meats and cheese, along with the tomatoes in sections on the salad, do in whatever order or pattern you'd like.
- Now, you can either top the salad with the pepperoncini scattered around and the roasted red peppers placed in the center on top of the meats or you can leave them in separate serving bowls on the side. I recommend keeping them separate if you don't anticipate eating all of the salad and would like to save for leftovers, it just keeps everything dry without becoming extremely soggy later on. However, if you have a large party, add those babies on top and it'll complete a beautiful salad!
- As far as dressing, I do the same for this one, keeping it separate. However, for a large party, I would add to the mixing bowl and mix in the desired amount before plating it on the serving dish. As far as what dressing I use, I've tried to make the Carmine's vinaigrette at home but haven't loved how it's turned out so I go with one of my favorite dressings that really adds to the salad, Olive Garden's Signature Italian Dressing. Use whatever dressing you love though, I would recommend to use a vinaigrette or a lighter dressing of some sort.
- And voila! Here's your finished product! I left the roasted red peppers and pepperoncinis aside for us to add in as desired since I knew we'd have leftovers for the next day to enjoy. TIP: Here's where a shallow but wide and long serving dish is fantastic because you'd be able to see all of the amazing additions underneath the beautifully chopped meats, cheese, and tomatoes on top. No worries though, it all tastes the same, so use whatever dish you have and arranged the ingredients in whatever fashion you'd like!