Muffuletta

Muffuletta [muhf-uh-let-uh] (n): a thick, round sandwich similar to a hero, typically containing ham, salami, and cheeses and topped with an olive salad, a specialty of New Orleans.

Central Grocery on Decatur Street in New Orleans is the gold standard of muffulettas. You MUST try one when you are in New Orleans.

The bread you use for this sandwich is extremely important because you can't just throw these hearty ingredients onto any old bread or else it wouldn't be a muffaletta, now would it? A large (8-10 in. diameter) round loaf of Sicilian/Italian bread is usually be hard to find outside of New Orleans, but luckily, I found a place on North Miami Beach, Laurenzo's Italian Market (http://www.laurenzosmarket.com/home.html), that makes fresh Sicilian bread each day. If you can't find the bread, there is a recipe at NOLA Cuisine (http://www.nolacuisine.com/2005/08/21/muffuletta-bread-recipe/).

The next important part of the Muffuletta is the olive salad. I've seen a few variations of the olive salad and decided to leave out gardiniera (pickled cauliflower, carrots, celery, and pperoncini) because I had a hard time finding it and I don't really want cauliflower in my sandwich.

Mr. M gave the following recipe his seal of approval and even liked this muffuletta more than the one we had in the Big Easy. Yeah, baby!

Olive Salad Ingredients

1 cup pitted green olives, very coarsely chopped
1 cup pitted black olives, very coarsely chopped
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup minced fresh parsley
Juice from 1 large lemon
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp black pepper

Sandwich Ingredients

6 oz. Hard Salami
6 oz. Mortadella
6 oz. Provolone cheese
1 round loaf (Sicilian or Italian with sesame seeds on top), 8-10 inches in diameter

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 24-48 hours to allow all the flavors to combine and marinate.

Cut the loaf of bread in half. Depending on how much time you have and how thick you want your sandwich, either jump right into assembly or dig some of the bread out to make room for all the toppings.

To assemble the Muffuletta, use a brush to spread any excess oil from the olive salad over the bread, spread one layer of olive salad on the Sicilian loaf, add a layer of salami, then a layer of provolone cheese, a layer of mortadella, then another layer of olive salad. Cover with the top half of the bread.

If you have time or didn't scoop any bread out, cover the sandwich with a plate and weigh it down with some cans for 30-45 minutes. If you don't have much time, want an extra thick sandwich, or scooped most of the bread out, then skip this step.

Traditionally, you're supposed to cut the muffuletta into quarters, but that's a little too much for me, so I recommend cutting it into eighths. One muffuletta will serve anywhere from 2-8 people, depending on the hunger level :)