Muffuletta

This recipe is from our New Orleans Kitchen feature.

Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant, opened Central Grocery in 1906 in the area of the French Quarter then known as Little Palermo. He created the muffaletta to sell to farmers that were bringing their wares to the French Market. Composed on a dinner-plate sized round of seeded Italian bread, the sandwich overflows with Italian meats, cheese and olive salad.

While many have copied the iconic sandwich, including the Napolean House, which controversially serves it hot and pressed, Central Grocery is still the original. Finally reopened last year after being closed for three years by a fire, the market is better than ever. Can’t get to the French Quarter? The stacked sandwiches are sold in supermarkets including Zuppardo’s in Metairie, Acquistapace in Mandeville and Moisant Market inside the New Orleans Airport.

This recipe by four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality and chef Andrew Zimmern goes off script in just one way from the original. Zimmern likes his muffaletta with lettuce (!) but encourages purists to skip the greens. He makes his olive salad from scratch, but jarred versions from Central Grocery, available in local supermarkets, are a tasty timesaver.

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Muffuletta

Recipe by Chef Andrew Zimmern

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This recipe by four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality and chef Andrew Zimmern goes off script in just one way from the original. Zimmern likes his muffaletta with lettuce (!) but encourages purists to skip the greens. He makes his olive salad from scratch, but jarred versions from Central Grocery, available in local supermarkets, are a tasty timesaver.

Cuisine: New Orleans

Servings

6

servings

Ingredients

• Pickled Red Onion

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 red onion, thinly sliced

• 1 cup white vinegar

• Olive relish

• 3 tomatoes, minced

• 1 medium yellow onion, minced

• 2 cups mixed olives, sliced

• 1 cup celery, minced

• 3 hot peppers (I like jalapenos), minced

• 1/2 cup parsley, minced

• 1 cup marinated sweet cherry peppers, minced

• 1/2 cup olive oil

• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 Tbsp dried oregano

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Muffuletta

• 1 large round Italian or French bread loaf

• 3/4 lb sliced ham

• 3/4 lb sliced provolone cheese

• 3/4 lb sliced salami (I used a mix of Genoa salami and spicy fennel salami)

• 3/4 lb sliced mortadella

• 1/2 head red leaf lettuce

Directions

• Dissolve the sugar in the white vinegar. Add the sliced red onion and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.
• In a large bowl, mix together all the sandwich relish ingredients. It gets better the longer it marinates, so allow it to sit overnight in the fridge if you can.
• Slice the bread in half. Put a thick layer of the olive relish on the bottom piece of bread. Layer with slices of ham, provolone, salami and mortadella. Top with pickled red onion, a few pieces of lettuce and a couple more scoops of olive relish. Drizzle the top piece of bread with olive oil then cover the sandwich. Once you’ve built the sandwich, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Let it sit for 2 hours, turning halfway through to allow the juices to be absorbed equally in the bread halves. Cut into pie slices for serving.