The rolls.
The olive and veggie “salad” and assorted meats and provolone cheese.
The top with a bit of olive oil and the bottom filled with “salad”.
Add the meat, cheese, and tomato and the sandwich is ready to be put together.
All together now, all together now…… (FEEL FREE TO SING ALONG)
Two halves of a whole.
Sorry about all the pictures. But in the case of this sandwich, I thought pictures would be better than a thousand words.
Several years ago, we joined our dear friends Dick and Eloise for a mini vacation to the great city of New Orleans for Mardi gras. We spent 10 days in this amazing city attending parades, eating as much great food as our tummies could accommodate, and of course listened to terrific jazz in small hole-in-the-wall cafes, famous eating establishments, and funky bars so dark you wondered if you had stumbled into a jazz infused spelunking adventure filled with really interesting (think kinda scary) critters.
And frankly, had we not been staying with Dick and Eloise’s son John, DIL Carol, and kidlets in their big, beautiful home, the entire trip would probably not have been such a wonderful experience. Because there’s only so much fun I can handle before I just want to bury my head under a pillow. So, staying in a hotel near the center of all the noise and 24-hour partying might have been more than I could handle. But since we had the great opportunity to stay in a private home, we enjoyed the heck out of our visit to “The Big Easy”.
And as I mentioned above, part of the reason we enjoyed New Orleans so much was the food. On one memorable occasion, Mr. C. and I took a walk around the neighborhood where we were staying and found a small corner market/deli that advertised “great muffaletta sandwiches made to order” or some such phraseology. Never ones to shirk our responsibility to embrace local cuisine, we wholehearted bought into the whole Creole/Cajun/Southern/Italian food scene. And OMG, we were immediately hooked on this famous Italian sandwich invented in New Orleans featuring cured meats, provolone cheese, olive and veggie salad, and great bread.
So, if you too would like to have a taste of what New Orleans has to offer in the way of fantastic food, then give this sandwich a try.
And if you ever get the opportunity to visit New Orleans, try as much of the local cuisine and listen to as much jazz as your body and soul can handle. Because N’awlins is the birthplace of jazz. And the jazz performers in New Orleans are top drawer. And while you are listening to these fabulous musicians, eat everything in sight.
For additional recipes that might take you back to or introduce you to some of the types of dishes you might experience in New Orleans and environs, go to the “Categories” area on this site and search under “Creole/Cajun Recipes”.
Well, that’s all I have to say today. Except of course, peace and love to all.
For the olive and veggie salad:
2/3 c. extra virgin olive oil, or more if needed
¼ c. red wine vinegar
1 c. pitted kalamata olives, chopped
¾ c. pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
¼ c. chopped pepperoncini
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 T. drained capers, roughly chopped
2 T. finely chopped fresh parsley
½ c. finely chopped celery
¾ c. finely chopped carrot
1 tsp. dried oregano
freshly ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a glass container with a lid. If the olive oil doesn’t cover all the chopped ingredients, add a bit more until all is covered. Refrigerate until needed. Best made at least a day ahead.
For 8 homemade individual round flat dinner rolls:
2¼ c. warm water
1 T. instant yeast
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1½ tsp. fine sea salt
5¼ c. unbleached all-purpose flour (more or less)
olive oil
In the bowl or your stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Ignore for 5 minutes.
Add the salt and a bit less than 5 cups of the flour. Mix with your bread hook until a soft dough has formed. Add additional flour as needed. (There should be a bit of dough hanging out on the bottom of the bowl. That’s what you want.)
Pour a bit of olive oil in the mixing bowl and using your hands and a stiff spatula form a dough ball covered in oil.
Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 80 minutes or until doubled in size.
Place a bit of flour on a pastry cloth or clean kitchen counter. Transfer the bread dough onto the floured surface using a stiff spatula. Then flour your hands and form the dough into 2 large equal sized balls. Then divide each ball into 4 pieces. Form each piece into a fairly flat round roll. (Do not knead the dough or handle it more than necessary.)
Place the formed bread dough on top of a parchment paper lined baking sheet and using a serrated knife, gently carve 2-3 diagonal cuts on the top of each loaf.
Rest the formed dough while you fill an oven proof pan with 2-inches of water and place it on the ovens’ bottom rack. This will create steam that will help the crust become a bit hard as it bakes. Then set the oven to heat at 450-degrees.
Once the oven has come to temperature, transfer the bread to the middle rack of your oven.
Bake for about 13 minutes or until golden brown all over and the internal temperature reaches about 200-degrees.
Remove from oven and transfer the loaves to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing the loaves in half crosswise.
To put the muffaletta sandwich together:
8 round flat dinner rolls*or a large Italian loaf of bread (unsliced)
¾ lb. deli sliced Genoa salami
¾ lb. deli sliced ham
¾ lb. deli sliced mortadella
¾ lb. deli sliced provolone cheese
thin tomato slices
For each roll, hollow out the bread halves by pulling out about half of the insides. If using a long loaf, cut crosswise and into about 2½-inch wide pieces and remove about half of the soft bread. (Hint: Do not throw this nice lovely soft bread away. Toast it in your oven for the next time you need plain breadcrumbs.)
Coat the inside of each roll or sliced loaf with the olive oil marinade from the veggie salad. (Place most of the marinade on the top half since the salad goes in the bottom half.)
Spoon salad into the bottom halves.
Layer the salami, ham, mortadella, and provolone evenly over the salad. Add the tomato slices and place the top half of bread firmly on the tomato slices.
Serve immediately, or cover sandwiches tightly with plastic wrap and place in your fridge for several hours. Muffaletta sandwiches can be served cold, at room temperature, or slightly warmed.
Great served with thick potato chips, Classic Southern Macaroni Salad (see recipe below), and a cold beer.
*I like to use round, flat dinner rolls because I can “capture” the filling better than if I use sections from a long loaf of bread. Just a personal preference.
CLASSIC SOUTHERN MACARONI SALAD – based on a recipe I found on the southernbite.com site
1 c. mayonnaise, or a bit more if needed
1 T. yellow mustard
3 T. white vinegar (the old-fashioned kind)
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. seasoned salt
freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp. granulated garlic
¼ tsp. granulated onion
½ c. finely chopped dill pickle
1 T. dill pickle juice
½ c. finely diced red onion* or green onion
½ c. finely diced celery (plus leaves)
3 c. uncooked small elbow macaroni, cooked al dente, drained and cooled by tap water
kosher salt, if needed
In a covered bowl, whisk the mayo, mustard, vinegar, sugar, seasoned salt, black pepper, granulated garlic, and granulated onion together. Then stir in the chopped dill pickle and pickle juice. Set aside.
Place the onion, celery, and cooked macaroni in a covered bowl. Add about 2/3rds of the dressing and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate the pasta for at least 2 hours. (Refrigerate the remaining dressing too.)
When ready to serve, add remaining dressing and toss to coat. Taste and add kosher salt if needed.
*If you use diced red onion, before adding it to the rest of the ingredients, give it a bath for about 15 minutes in ice water. This will reduce the “bite” that is often associated with red onion. Be sure to drain and pat the diced onion dry with a paper towel before adding it to the salad.