Muffeletta Sandwich

Serves 4

(Italian/American)

The sandwich, which originated in New Orleans, is named after the round, crusty Sicilian loaf.  While variety of ingredients can go into making the olive salad (the recipe we use was created by mom after a trip to New Orleans), this is one sandwich which should never be served hot. 

Ingredients

 olive salad:

1 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
½ cup drained Kalamata olives, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 celery stalk, chopped
½ cup peperoncini, drained and chopped
¼ cup marinated cocktail onions, roughly chopped
½ teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
Coarse Kosher salt
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¾ cup olive oil

meats*: 

8 ounces thinly sliced Genoa salami
8 ounces of pepperoni
8 ounces thinly sliced cooked ham
8 ounces sliced mortadella
8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese
8 ounces sliced provolone cheese

4  muffeletta loaves or 7-inch, round Italian bread, sliced in half horizontally and with some of the excess bread hollowed out of the top to make room for the olive salad

*while these are the traditional meats and amounts you can use any cold cuts and amounts of your preference.

Preparation

olive salad:

1.  In a medium bowl, mix together the olives, garlic, capers, celery, peperoncini, cocktail onions, celery seed, oregano, basil, vinegar, olive oil.   Correct seasoning with black pepper and salt.

2.  Transfer the mixture into a covered glass jar (or other covered, nonreactive container), if needed, pour in more oil to cover the mixture, and refrigerate at least overnight.

sandwich construction:

1.  To assemble the sandwich, layer 'bottom half' of each loaf with ¼ of meats and cheeses. Top the meats and cheeses on each “bottom half” with ¼ of the olive salad and place 'top half' on each loaf. 

2.  To serve immediately cut each sandwich in half to make them easier to manage, or wrap tightly in butcher paper and refrigerate for a few hours; allowing the flavours to mingle and the olive salad to soak into the bread and when ready to serve unwrap each sandwich and cut each in half to make them easier to manage.