New Orleans has many distinctive food traditions. The blend of Cajun seasonings, rich Creole tastes and the smell of crawfish boiling over open flames can instantly return anyone who has ever visited to the Crescent City.
While there is any number of submarine or grinder sandwiches throughout the United States, the Muffuletta has its distinctive roots in New Orleans. Central Grocery on Decatur Street takes credit for creating the Muffuletta in 1906. Today there are as many variations of the Muffuletta as there are restaurants.
A flattened, round loaf of bread topped with sesame seeds and a selection of Italian meats and cheeses are fairly common. What makes each Muffuletta unique is the Olive Salad that is used to dress the sandwich. The only common ingredient from kitchen to kitchen is the use of olives.
Olive Salad
- 5 cloves garlic, quartered
- 1 cup green olives, pitted
- ½ cup kalamata olives, pitted
- 1 cup Gardiniera, drained
- 1 tablespoon capers
- ¼ cup cocktail onions
- 1 whole roasted red pepper, cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 pinches crushed red pepper flakes
- 3 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil (approximately)
Directions:
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel chopping blade, combine garlic, olives, gardiniera, capers, cocktail onions and red peppers. Pulse a few times to chop the ingredients.
- Add parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes and vinegar to food processor bowl. Pulse 3 or 4 more times to blend all ingredients.
- Do not over-process. The olive salad should be slightly chunky, not pureed.
- Transfer to a container with a tight fitting lid.
- Add olive oil to cover the olive salad mixture, stirring well.
- Refrigerate several days to allow flavors to blend.
Muffuletta Sandwich
Assembling a Muffuletta is similar to creating a work of art. All of the meats and cheeses should be thinly sliced.
- 1 loaf Muffuletta Bread, sliced across
- 4 ounces genoa salami
- 4 ounces deli ham or spicy Capicola ham
- 4 ounces Mortadella (an Italian-style bologna)
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 4 ounces provolone cheese
- Olive Salad
Directions:
- Brush each bread half with oil from the Olive Salad, using more oil on the bottom half.
- Layer 2 ounces of the genoa salami on the bottom half, followed by the ham, Mortadella, mozzarella, provolone and the other 2 ounces of salami.
- Generously top the meat and cheese with olive salad.
- Place the top half of the bread on the sandwich and gently squeeze together.
- The traditional way to cut a Muffuletta is into quarters.
- Serve with several napkins.
For an easy to make recipe for Homemade Muffuletta Bread, follow this link.
Source: Muffuletta History
 |
