MINI MUFFALETTA SANDWICHES!! NEW ORLEANS INSPIRED!!

Let's use some of that delicious olive tapenade we made in a previous video and use it as the base for an olive salad that will go into these delicious "mini" muffaletta sandwiches! The muffaletta sandwich is a New Orleans classic. Born and bread in the heart of the Big Easy at the Central Market, this sandwich has been satisfying New Orleaneans for over a century! Filled with a generous abundance of meats and cheese and garnished with a salty, briney olive salad that takes this sandwich over the edge to a place you will want to come back to again and again!

I am calling these "mini" muffaletta sandwiches because I am not making this in the traditional manner. This is more of an "inspired" way of doing things using ingredients I could procure locally with ease. The original version of this sandwich is made on a large, round loaf of bread. Yes, the entire loaf is split and the sandwich is built inside. Intended to feed four to six people. Today I am using some fresh Kaiser rolls from a local deli. You could use any hard Italian or French style roll that will get the job done. If you like to make the original version you can seek out a large shepherd's style loaf of round bread or a French style Boule with a great crust will work as well.

The meats and cheeses traditionally include lots of thinly sliced salami. Either Genoa or Soprasetta or a combination of the two. Thin sliced ham such as Capicola, Danish or in my case Black Forest ham as well as Italian Mortadella which is, for all intents and purposes, Italian style bologna. The difference is that mortadella will often times have cheese and or roasted pistachios in the sausage itself, so that when sliced you can see the beautiful mosaic created by the addition of those ingredients. I could not procure any of this delicacy so I went with my favorite style German bologna and it works just fine. Add in some cheese. Today I am using Provolone but you could use that as well as a combination of mozzarella, ementaler, swiss or any other mild cheese you prefer.

The magic happens when you add the delicious olive salad which is what makes a muffaletta, a muffaletta. The Central Market makes and markets their own version of this "salad" which is a lovely combo of black and spanish olives fresh vegetables and olive oil. Since we made the olive tapenade, I thought this was a great starting point for the olive salad.

I took approximately a cup of my tapenade and combined it with some jarred giardiniera that I drained and chopped roughly. I added a couple tablespoons of olive oil to give the mixture the right consistency and "juiciness". This is pure gold and if you are a fan of both olives and pickled veggies, you are in for a real treat!

To build the sandwich simply spoon some olive salad on the bottom bun then layer the meats. Salami first, then bologna or mortadella, cheese, ham and more salami and topped off with more olive salad on the top bun then everything is mashed together for good measure! Some purists will tell you to wrap the sandwich tightly in plastic and set a weight on top and let it rest for at least an hour to allow the olive salad to do it's magic and soak into the bread and compress the behemoth. You can do that, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. Especially since you will want to eat it right away it will be too delicious smelling to resist!

I am telling you that delicious, does not begin to describe this delicacy! The combination of meats gives you many textures from soft bologna, chewy salami, sweet ham, and the cheese to the briney, salty goodness of that olive salad. Dare I say this really is a sandwich to try before you die!

I hope you will give my verison of the New Orleans Classic Muffaletta a try sometime soon and I hope you love it!

Happy Eating!

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