I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.
As I put together the Marinated Cauliflower, Olive, and Caper Salad, it reminded me a lot of the kind of olive salad that’s usually on a muffuletta. The only problem for me with a standard muffuletta is that it’s usually filled with several varieties of salami and ham which all fall into the red meat category that I avoid. So, I thought, why not build a vegetarian muffuletta? I skipped the meat and sliced roasted portobellos to take its place and added a layer of piquillo peppers. I chopped the Marinated Cauliflower Salad to a smaller size before adding a generous portion to the sandwich. Just as a muffuletta should be, this was a piled-high sandwich with big flavors. I’m not sure if this version will catch on in New Orleans, but it was hit at my house for Mardi Gras.
I started with ciabatta rolls which were sliced, brushed with olive oil and toasted. From the bottom up, I layered arugula leaves, sliced provolone, roasted and sliced portobellos, and piquillo peppers. Of course, any roasted red pepper would add good color and flavor, but I had some piquillos on hand. Next up, I chopped some pepperoncini which were added before the chopped cauliflower salad. A little more arugula sat on top, and that was the sandwich.
I love how the dressing from the cauliflower salad and the brine from the pepperoncini seep into the crunchy, toasted bread and flavor the whole sandwich. And, it’s a sandwich that requires a napkin or two to be served with it, but that’s part of the charm of a muffuletta. Mardi Gras inspired this creation, but from now on, it will make year-round appearances in our sandwich rotation.
In honor of Mardi Gras, I pulled Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer off the shelf again. I’ve been thrilled with dishes from this book in the past, and it did not disappoint this time either. I chose a couple of dishes for our weekend indulging, and the first one up is the prosciutto-wrapped tuna muffuletta. Spicer explains that the muffuletta is related to the Nicoise pan bagnat which received its name because of the oils that bathe the bread. She created this muffuletta with that concept in mind. It is a richly dressed, unapologetically but deliciously untidy sandwich.
This is a very simple preparation as is and would be even simpler if you chose to use a pre-made olive salad. Since it was a weekend, the weekend before Mardi Gras at that, I was feeling all go for it and set about chopping olives, vegetables giardinera, pepperoncini, garlic, parsley, and celery hearts to make my own olive salad. I’m glad I did because I got to chop the olives just the way I wanted and add extra pickled cauliflower. I also have lots of leftover olive salad as a bonus.
Ordinarily, I’m the pickiest eater I know, but sometimes Kurt has specific opinions about food as well. This time, we tied. Fresh tuna was to be marinated with crushed fennel seeds, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, garlic, and olive oil. We were both fine with that. Then, each tuna portion was to be wrapped with prosciutto. No thank you for mine. The tuna was seared while the sliced ciabatta rolls were toasted under the broiler. Then, the tuna was to be placed on each roll with olive salad and provolone cheese. Kurt does not allow cheese near his fish under any circumstances. So, we ended up with two customized muffulettas, but both were fantastic.
When they came out from under the broiler, arugula was added just before serving. Crunchy and chewy bread, nicely seasoned, marinated and just briefly seared tuna with briny, fruity, peppery olive salad, and a little gooey, melted cheese made a decadent meal. These big, stuffed sandwiches were drippy, messy, and couldn’t have been better. Fortunately, I thought to buy a few extra ciabatta rolls and some good canned tuna in olive oil which made fantastic open-faced tuna melts with olive salad the next day.
by Susan Spicer off the shelf again. I’ve been thrilled with dishes from this book in the past, and it did not disappoint this time either. I chose a couple of dishes for our weekend indulging, and the first one up is the prosciutto-wrapped tuna muffuletta. Spicer explains that the muffuletta is related to the Nicoise pan bagnat which received its name because of the oils that bathe the bread. She created this muffuletta with that concept in mind. It is a richly dressed, unapologetically but deliciously untidy sandwich.
Ordinarily, I’m the pickiest eater I know, but sometimes Kurt has specific opinions about food as well. This time, we tied. Fresh tuna was to be marinated with crushed fennel seeds, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, garlic, and olive oil. We were both fine with that. Then, each tuna portion was to be wrapped with prosciutto. No thank you for mine. The tuna was seared while the sliced ciabatta rolls were toasted under the broiler. Then, the tuna was to be placed on each roll with olive salad and provolone cheese. Kurt does not allow cheese near his fish under any circumstances. So, we ended up with two customized muffulettas, but both were fantastic.
