A Muffaletta sandwich is a meat-lovers dream–layers upon layers of cold cuts and cheese, mashed between hearty bread slathered with Olive Salad. It packs a flavorful punch that guarantees satisfaction. As this sandwich is made in advance, it’s a perfect option for entertaining, picnics, and tailgates.

Olive Salad

1/2 cup pitted green olives

1/2 cup pitted black olives

3 Tbsp cocktail onions

1 Tbsp minced celery

1/2 cup roasted red pepper strips

2 Tbsp capers

3 pepperoncini

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

 

Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor.  Pulse the blade several times until the ingredients are finely chopped and thoroughly combined.  Transfer to a storage vessel and allow the mixture to sit for at least one hour before use.  It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

 

If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the ingredients by hand, then mix together with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.  Allow the mixture to sit for at least an hour before use.  Store as directed above.

 

Muffaletta Sandwich

1 loaf ciabatta or focaccia bread, sliced horizontally

Olive Salad (see above)

8 oz hard salami, thinly sliced

8 oz capicola, thinly sliced

8 oz mortadella, thinly sliced

8 oz provolone cheese, thinly sliced

 

1. If the bread is extra thick, use your fingers to remove some of the excess bread from the interior cuts sides of each half.

 

2. Slather the cut side of both halves of the bread with the olive salad.

 

3. Place a layer of the capicola on the bottom half of the bread, slightly overlapping the slices.

 

4. Repeat this process with the mortadella.

 

5. Repeat with the hard salami.

 

6. Repeat these layers until you have used all of the deli meats.

 

7. Top the meats with a layer of provolone cheese.

 

8. Place the top half of the bread over the cheese layer.

 

9. At this point, you have two options: The first is to wrap the entire slab of sandwich with plastic wrap, place it in the refrigerator, and cut it right before serving; the second is to cut it now and wrap each portion individually in plastic wrap. At any rate, the sandwich needs to sit at least 1 hour or up to 1 day before it is served. This allows the bread to soak up the juices of the olive salad–trust me when I tell you that you want this to happen (the bread will not be soggy or gross). When cutting the sandwich, slice it into six even portions.

 

10. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

 

Serves 6

 

🥪 If you are planning to take individually wrapped sandwiches to a picnic, tailgate, or in your lunch, either double wrap the sandwich in plastic wrap or wrap it in a single layer of plastic wrap and an exterior layer of parchment or butcher paper, and tie it together with kitchen twine. This will prevent leakage of the olive salad juices.

 

🥪 🥪 If you are making this sandwich for people with nut allergies, substitute another deli meat for the mortadella, as it contains pistachios–unless, of course, you’re trying to kill them.