Step By Step: Muffuletta

Muffuletta Step By Step:

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY RENÉE KOHLMAN

After a long winter of

being cooped up inside the house, as soon as the snow melts and green things begin to emerge from the earth again, the urge to pack up a picnic and eat outside is very strong.

Usually I’m keen on layering fresh bread with an assortment of cheeses, meats and snacky things like olives and pickles. But then there is the muffuletta which is all of these things made into one colossal (and delicious!) sandwich.

Muffuletta (muff-uh-LAH-tuh) – also known as Muffaletta – is a classic New Orleans sandwich that consists of a large wide bread, filled with layers of marinated olive salad, cheese, and Italian deli meats. In Italy, muffuletta is the name of the bread itself: a round and flat Sicilian sesame loaf. The sandwich was created in 1906 at the Central Grocery in New Orleans by its owner, Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant. Legend has it that Salvatore noticed his customers had a hard time juggling and eating their bread, meat and olives – which he sold separately – so he started putting everything together in one giant sandwich. The sandwich came to be known as Muffuletta because he used the sesameseed topped bread. To this day, it is an extremely popular sandwich found all over New Orleans.

The all important olive salad consists of olives, obviously. I use pitted kalamata and pimento-stuffed green, but you can use whatever variety you like. Giardiniera (a mix of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil) is traditional in this sandwich, but I used roasted red peppers and artichoke hearts instead. If you have a jar of this in the fridge, by all means use it. I prefer shallots in the salad because they are milder and will let the olives shine. You can use some red onion if you like. Oregano is key, and dried is fine. For a bit of a kick, I add a generous pinch of red pepper flakes. For some acidity, I use sherry vinegar, but red or white wine vinegars can be used instead. Extra virgin olive oil rounds out the salad, but don’t forget to season with salt and pepper.

The bread is important here, and I use a round loaf of sourdough as it is nice and sturdy. Provolone is the cheese of choice, though slices of fresh mozzarella would be very tasty. For the cold cuts, salami, ham, capicola, mortadella, and soppressata (hot or sweet) are fairly traditional. Use what you like, just be sure they are thinly sliced. To have something green, I added the peppery bite of arugula.

Assembling the sandwich is straightforward: hollow out the bread, spread the olive salad on both cut sides, layer in the meat and cheese, add the arugula, put the bread top on, then wrap the sandwich tightly in plastic. You can enjoy it after one hour, or wait a bit longer so the flavours marry. This is a terrific sandwich to slice and eat outside, or wrap each wedge individually and take along on all of those outdoor adventures we’ll be having this spring and summer. Don’t forget the napkins!

Muffuletta

¼ cup (60 mL) red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar 1½ tsp dried oregano ½ tsp salt ¼ tsp pepper pinch red pepper flakes pinch sugar 1/3 cup (80 mL) extra virgin olive oil ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped 1/3 cup pitted green olives, chopped ¼ cup chopped roasted red peppers ¼ cup chopped marinated artichoke hearts 1 shallot, finely chopped 1 round bread loaf (sourdough is ideal) approx. 20 cm in diameter 90 g thinly sliced ham 90 g thinly sliced salami 90 g thinly sliced mortadella 90 g thinly sliced capicola 180 g sliced provolone, 8 slices 1 cup arugula

1. Whisk together the vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and sugar in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil. Stir in the olives, roasted peppers, and artichoke hearts. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired. 2. Slice the top 2.5 cm of the bread loaf off. Hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread, leaving a 2.5 cm border. Reserve the excess bread for another use such as croutons or bread crumbs. Spread some of the olive salad on the bottom and up the sides of the bread, as well as on the cut side of the bread top. Put down a couple of layers of meat, then 4 slices of cheese, then the remaining meat. Add the arugula then the last 4 slices of cheese. Spread any remaining olive salad over the cheese and carefully cover with the bread top. 3. Wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour. Cut the sandwich into wedges and serve immediately. If you want to take this sandwich on a picnic, cut the sandwich into wedges and wrap each individually for easy transport.

Note:

If you want more of a kick to your muffuletta, choose spicy cold cuts instead of mild.

Renée Kohlman is a busy food writer and recipe developer living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her debut cookbook All the Sweet Things was published last year.

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