The Muffuletta

I didn't find any recipes on here that completely tickled my fancy! I used to watch the kitchen staff make the olive dressing and make the sandwiches where I worked on Decatur. We were two blocks from Central Grocery and I knew people who worked in the kitchen there also. SO I would say that this recipe, after looking online and giving credit where it's due to NolaCuisine.com and gumbopages.com (to remind me what HAD to go in, and what didn't belong)- I've devised a recipe that's as close as possible to what's the REAL deal! Prep time does not include 2-3 days store time for olive salad.

• Ready In: 20 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• Olive Dressing

• 1 1⁄2 cups  pimento-stuffed green olives, drained
• 3⁄4 cup black olives, drained and lightly chopped
• 1  cup  italian  pickled vegetables (Gardiniera)
• 2  tablespoons capers
• 1⁄4 cup celery, chopped small
• 1⁄4 cup  baby carrots, chopped small
• 2  large fresh garlic cloves, minced
• 2  teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 (12 ounce) jar  cocktail onions, drained
• 1  tablespoon fresh oregano, finely chopped
• 1  tablespoon  fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 (12 ounce) jar  pepperoncini peppers, drained and roughly chopped
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh black pepper
• 1 1⁄2 cups extra virgin olive oil (use the GOOD stuff)

• Sandwich

• 4  loaves  Italian bread (with toasted sesame seeds on top) or 4  loaves  muffuletta bread
• 1  lb ham, thinly sliced
• 1  lb mortadella, thinly sliced
• 1  lb  hard  genoa salami, thinly sliced
• 1  lb swiss cheese, thinly sliced
• 1  lb provolone cheese, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Combined green olives, black olives, Gardiniera salad, capers, celery, carrots, garlic, red pepper flakes, cocktail onions, oregano, parsley and pepperoncini, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil.
2. Store in gallon jug for 2-3 days in fridge.
3. Cut your Italian bread length wise in half.
4. Layer 1/4 Lb ham, mortadella, salami, Swiss cheese and provolone cheese on the bottom half of bread.
5. Stir the olive salad, and scoop a cup to place over top half of bread.
6. Quickly pair the bottom layer with the top layer and cut into 1/4 's.
7. Serve 2 1/4s per person.
8. Servings #s are for number of sandwiches that can be made, not the amount of olive salad servings. You will probably have some olive salad left over.
9. Enjoy!