creative
cooking
Muffaletta
Sandwich
THIS STUFFED SANDWICH of
cold cuts, olives, peppers and
artichokes, all pressed into a
sandwich extravaganza, will
make you a legend. This
savoury treat is just the thing
to make ahead and tote to your
next picnic. (Get the round
bread unsliced—as well as
roasted peppers, marinated
artichokes, and pimento-stuffed
olives—at Costco).
500 mL (1 lb.) round,
rustic, crusty bread,
split horizontally in three
50 mL (1/4 cup) red
wine vinegar
3 large garlic cloves, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste
75 mL (1/3 cup) olive oil
375 g (3/4 lb.) sliced
provolone cheese
250 mL (1 cup) finely chopped
marinated artichokes
250 g (1/2 lb.) sliced salami
or pastrami
250 mL (1 cup) pimento-stuffed green olives, very
finely chopped
250 g (1/2 lb.) mortadella
sausage
250 mL (1 cup) roasted sweet
red peppers, finely chopped
250 g (1/2 lb.) sliced smoked
turkey or chicken
250 g (1/2 lb.) cappicolo
or pastrami
CostcoAlfresco
Prepare the loaf. Dig out a
bit of the bread from the upper
and lower layers.
Putting together the
Mix wine vinegar, garlic,
salt and pepper to taste and
olive oil; drizzle a little over
each layer of the bread.
great Canadian picnic
By Marcy Goldman
On the bottom layer,
place a layer of cheese, then
the chopped artichokes and
sliced salami.
WHAT IS IT about eating outdoors that makes
everything taste so good? Maybe it’s because we naturally match sunny, zesty, fun foods with the weather.
Cover with the middle
layer of bread. Top with
cheese, chopped olives, mortadella sausage, more cheese,
red peppers, smoked turkey
and cappicolo.
The best picnics call for simple things such
as sandwiches and salads—make-ahead, chilled,
easy-to-tote, eat-out-of-hand fare—because the
whole point of a picnic is to have a good time.
There’s no sense sweating in the kitchen before you
ever get there!
A muffaletta, from New Orleans, is a sandwich
that is much more than the sum of its parts. The
marriage of cold cuts, cheese and marinated salads,
which are stuffed and then pressed into rustic round
bread, is sheer dynamite.
Press the top layer of
bread on the sandwich. Wrap
well in foil. Press the sandwich
down, using a cast-iron skillet
or a few plates, and refrigerate
to meld flavours and flatten
sandwich (it does not flatten
all that much, but enough).
So, quick and accessible are the order of the day.
Sure, you could go the barbecue route, but isn’t it
fun to offer guests something a little different?
For dessert? A gorgeous, golden, strawberries-and-cream Bundt cake that has all the flavours you
love in a strawberry shortcake but respun into a
“carrying cake” that, unlike traditional shortcake,
doesn’t mess up the picnic basket.
To wash it all down, I suggest some refreshing
Back-Porch Lemonade.
All that’s missing are some chips, a pretty basket
and a Frisbee! C
Slice to serve. Serves 6 to 8.
MORE RECIPES ON PAGE 3
The Famous Layered Icebox Salad is genius.
Everything, including the vinaigrette, is assembled
in advance, gathering flavour as it chills. Dole out
generous, colourful portions of layered greens and
marinated vegetables. The light but creamy dressing
nicely clings to the whole affair in a way the usual
oil-and-vinegar dressing just can’t.
Marcy Goldman is a Montreal pastry chef, cook-
book author and host of www.BetterBaking.Com.
Her three sons have not stopped requesting
muffaletta since she first tested the recipe.
