For over a year now, Jade has been asking me to make muffuletta sandwiches again. The muffuletta and olive salad was made famous in America by the Central Grocery, located in the heart of New Orleans.
The sandwich takes it’s name from a Sicilian sesame loaf that the founder of the grocery store used to make sandwiches of olive salad and cold cuts for Sicilian farmers. An interesting story, you can check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muffuletta.
Speaking of bread, check out New Orleanian, Dave Bridges’ superbly written “The Significance of Bread.” http://underthetuscangun.com/talk/foodography/the-significance-of-bread/.
You’ll need to make the salad at least a day in advance to allow all the flavors to blend. You could eat some immediately, I did, but it’s better the next day.
Central Grocery Olive Salad
12 ounce jar Giardiniera
1 cup pitted black olives, chopped
2 cups pimento stuffed green olives, chopped
12 ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
5 large cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp capers, chopped
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp crushed red
1 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight.
as soon as we start making Giardiniera again i will be back for this.. very good! c
Thanks c. Tomorrow I make the sandwich.
Oh, dear, I’m out of the “loop”, what is Giardiniera?? I’d love to have this!
You can find it in a jar in the grocery store. It usually has pickled carrots, cauliflower cucumber, onions and celery inside.
That looks great. If it wasn’t for the rain Id be heading to the French Quarter right now!
If I was that close, I’d get an umbrella 🙂
AMEN!
Very very healthy salad. I love it.
This has been a favorite of mine for a few years. Love me some muffaletta.
I do too Connie. Tomorrow, I’m making the sandwich.
At my restaurant we would sell out of the sandwich by 1 everyday.
You learn something new every day :D. Wunderbar!
Two questions:
>1 cup pitted olives, chopped1 tsp crushed red<
Crushed red – pepper?
Crushed red what?
Looks delicious. Yum.
Crushed red pepper
Sorry Charles, I guess I forgot the black in front of olives. I’ve edited the post. Crushed red pepper, the kind my husband puts on pizza.
red pepper flakes
Another place where the line was so long we skipped it. I know, shame on us. But hey, now we have your recipe!
I think you went during Mardi Gras? Off season in NO is much better, no lines, mostly locals.
Delish! I love olive salad ever since I tried it for the first time when I visited New Orleans a couple of years ago. Thank you for the recipe!
You are welcome. It’s so easy to make and keeps quite a while in the refrigerator
Yum. A good thing to eat in the winter when a lot of produce is on holiday — I could see it for a New Year’s Eve spread.
Or the Spring, Summer and Fall 😉
I add it to tuna. It makes a great tuna salad.
CERTAINLY does!!!
Ah, NOLA, my almost favorite city in the world. Looking forward to seeing tomorrow’s sandwich.
Me too 🙂
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What a delicious salad! Refreshing and gorgeous photography!
Happy Easter!
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you Choc.
This looks great! Just bought all of the ingredients at the store, can’t wait to make it!
However, I have one question, however silly it may be. Do you drain the Giardiniera or do you use the juice from it to help marinade the salad?
Thanks!
Drain
This looks so delicious! I just bought all of the ingredients at the store and can’t wait to make it!
However, I have one question, however silly it may be, should I drain the Giardiniera or use the juice to marinade the salad?
Thanks!
Good luck with the recipe.
I bought a jar of this salad at the Central Grocery years ago, and it lasts a long time in the fridge. I probably paid about $12 for it at the time. Recently, I tried to buy some on the internet, and the lowest price is $20, with $13 for shipping! No way! I’ll be going to the store for the ingredients I am missing and making this salad this week!
Yeah boy howdy!