Muffaletta

Muffaletta

Muffaletta

Ingredients

Makes 1 muffalettaserves about 4

OLIVE SALAD:

• 5½oz (150g) pitted (stoned) black olives
• 5½oz (150g) pitted (stoned) green olives
• 2¼oz (60g) Italian pickled vegetables (giardiniera), drained 1 tbsp capers, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 small red onion
• 4 canned anchovy fillets, drained
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• olive oil, for drizzling
• sea salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 focaccia loaf (or a muffaletta if you’re lucky or live in New Orleans) 10 slices capicola or salami
• 10 slices mortadella
• 10 slices cooked ham
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• 8 slices Provolone cheese

Method

1. To make the olive salad, finely chop the olives, pickled vegetables, capers, and red onion
2. Mash the anchovy fil ets and add to the chopped vegetables, along with the oregano
3. Add enough olive oil to moisten the mixture, taste, and then season with salt and pepper
4. To assemble the sandwich, cut the loaf in half and begin by removing some of the crumb from the inside of each half to make room :For the fil ing
5. Brush the inside of the bread halves with a little of the oil from the olive salad, then layer up the meats and cheeses on the bottom half
6. Add a layer of olive salad on top, basically as much as you can fit in without it al fal ing out the sides, then cover with the top half of the loaf
7. Press down the sandwich lightly, to secure everything but not squash it
8. Cut the sandwich into portions to serve
9. Serve any leftover olive salad on the side