Muffuletta — The Sandwich That Feeds a Full House

Will's first visit to Charleston, held in kitchen where Mama sat, Joy meets Will says Baby!, Robert builds small bookshelf for nursery. The week was the life. The life was the cooking. The cooking was the love. And the love was the week, and the week was one of the weeks that stack together to become the years, and the years become the life, and the life is the woman at the stove who cooks and writes and loves and does not stop.

I made she-crab soup on Sunday — the anchor, the constant, the practice. The soup was perfect. The perfection was the practice. And the practice continues, one Sunday at a time, one bowl at a time, one life at a time, the woman stirring, the roux thickening, the kitchen warm, the family fed, the love alive.

The soup was Sunday’s anchor, but the days around it needed feeding too — Will settling in, Robert with sawdust on his hands, Joy still wide-eyed from meeting the baby. A muffuletta is what you make when the table is suddenly, wonderfully full: one great stacked sandwich, built for sharing, sliced into wedges and passed around without ceremony. It is the kind of food that asks nothing of you except to sit down together, which is all any of us really wanted that week.

Muffuletta

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 20 min (plus 1 hr rest) | Servings: 6–8

Ingredients

• 1 large round Italian or sesame-seeded muffuletta loaf (about 9–10 inches)
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup pitted black or kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup giardiniera (pickled vegetables), drained and chopped
• 2 tablespoons roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced Genoa salami
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced mortadella
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced capicola or ham
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced provolone
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced mozzarella

Instructions

1. Make the olive salad. In a small bowl, combine the green olives, black olives, giardiniera, roasted red peppers, olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, and oregano. Stir well and set aside for at least 10 minutes to let the flavors meld.
2. Prepare the bread. Slice the muffuletta loaf in half horizontally. If the interior is very doughy, pull out a little of the bread from each half to create a shallow well that will hold the fillings.
3. Layer the bottom half. Spoon half of the olive salad evenly over the cut side of the bottom half, pressing it gently into the bread.
4. Add the meats and cheese. Layer the salami, mortadella, and capicola over the olive salad, then top with the provolone and mozzarella slices, overlapping slightly.
5. Finish with olive salad. Spoon the remaining olive salad over the cheese layer.
6. Top and press. Place the top half of the loaf over the fillings and press down firmly. Wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap or butcher paper.
7. Rest before serving. Let the sandwich rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour (or refrigerate up to 4 hours) so the bread absorbs the olive oil and the layers compress. Slice into wedges and serve.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 31g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 1340mg