This may not be brand new too all of you, but I urge you to stick around for the exciting conclusion. The “muff” as they call it, is basically an Italian sandwich, containing salami, mortadella, and ham, with provolone. Obviously, this is a winner sandwich, and for sure not invented in New Orleans. The genius is in the condiment, for the lack of a better term. That condiment is an olive salad, or finely chopped giardiniera. Just to be confusing, we call this concoction, muffuletta. It makes sense, since the muffuletta makes the muffuletta.
Once you have been reborn to this incredible flavor, you soon learn, this is good on everything! It is great on any sandwich or salad, the side of your plate with almost any entree, and it even makes an outstanding hors d’oeuvres, when topping cheese and crackers.
Now for the main event. Let’s recreate this genius in our own kitchen!
You can be as lazy or as diehard as you like when it comes to selecting your ingredients. You can pickle all of your own ingredients, and select the flavors that you like the most, or you can buy every ingredient from the pickle aisle. I go somewhere in between, because I have yet to try pickling my own olives. So, I pickle some of my own ingredients, and buy others. But the important thing is to get a good mix of pickled veggies, and olives, and spice/heat to your liking. You can see what I start out with.
From here I chop all of my pickled veggies.
Then I add copious amount of olive oil and mix really well. This is much better than adding oil to the blender when chopping.
Finally, we bottle, and live life to the fullest!