Insalata di Rinforzo (Neapolitan Christmas Cauliflower Salad)

Insalata di Rinforzo, also known as Burdiglione, is a rich, flavorful side dish from the Neapolitan Christmas food tradition, where it is always on the holiday table.

As with any traditional Italian dish, there is no single official Insalata di Rinforzo Recipe, because every family hands down its own version through the generations. What is certain, though, is that it always includes papaccelle (the classic round red peppers from Campania), boiled cauliflower, olives, gherkins, giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetables), pearl onions, anchovies and capers.

Wondering Why It’s Called Insalata di Rinforzo? The name (“reinforcement salad”) seems to come from the fact that the Christmas Eve Dinner (strictly meatless in Naples), however rich and made up of countless fish courses, still had to be reinforced with this very salad. And by tradition, the salad is made for Christmas Eve, but every day it gets “reinforced” by replacing whatever is eaten at each meal (all the way to the New Year’s Eve dinner).

The recipe for Insalata di Rinforzo, a sort of Neapolitan Christmas Caponata, is quick and simple, and you shouldn’t have any trouble finding the ingredients (if you can’t find papaccelle, keep in mind that you can replace them with pickled red and yellow peppers).