Vegetarian Muffuletta Recipe
Email
A traditional muffuletta (or muffaletta) is usually piled with capicola, salami, and mortadella, but arguably the most important ingredient is the olive salad. Packed with tons of briny olive salad, our vegetarian version of the sandwich is short on meat but not on flavor.
Game plan: The olive salad can be made up to 4 hours in advance and refrigerated in a covered container.
INGREDIENTS
For the olive salad:
- 1 cup pitted mixed olives such as Picholine, Cerignola, or Niçoise, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove, minced
For the sandwich:
- 2 roasted red peppers, seeded and sliced into 1/2-inch-thick strips
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped marinated artichoke hearts
- 3/4 cup stemmed and sliced pepperoncini
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium portobello mushrooms, cleaned and sliced into 1/2-inch-wide strips
- 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 (1-pound) loaf ciabatta, sliced in half horizontally, insides removed, and toasted
- 4 thin slices provolone cheese (about 4 ounces)
INSTRUCTIONS
For the olive salad:
- Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix to combine. Season with freshly ground black pepper and set aside.
For the sandwich:
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium bowl and put red peppers, artichokes, and pepperoncini in the strainer. Press lightly on the vegetables to extract any liquid; set aside.
- Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place mushrooms in the pan and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, undisturbed, until mushrooms are golden brown on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until mushrooms are soft and golden brown on the other side, about 4 minutes more. Drizzle vinegar over mushrooms and cook until vinegar has been absorbed, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Lay the bottom half of the bread on a clean work surface and evenly distribute all of the reserved olive salad. Spread mushrooms evenly over olive salad and top with cheese slices. Press lightly on the reserved red peppers, artichokes, and pepperoncini in the strainer to extract any additional liquid, then distribute evenly over the cheese. Cover with top half of the bread and press down firmly to compact the sandwich. Slice into 4 to 6 sections and serve.
This could actually be good. The olive salad really is the star of any Muffuletta.
Agreed this is a "misnomer-muffuletta", but a good start to a sandwich idea nonetheless. I used a mandolin to cut thin large rounds from the portabello and gently marinated for just a few minutes with a balsamic vinagrette. Fried these up on a griddle (brown and very low moisture) and layered moderately. This gave it that deli-look when you cross cut the sandwich. My family rolls their eyes when I do things like this, but why not give it that stacked look.
This look really nice. How long do you think the Olive Salad would last refrigerated? I'd like to make a large portion and use it for weeks if it will last that long.
I much prefer Chicago-style giardiniera on a muffuletta.
(Sorry....meant to write "....recipe LOOKS more authentic".)
Ideally, olive salad should be made well in advance so that all the flavors have time to meld -- or, as we New Orleanians like to say, "fester"! Can't vouch for it, but this olive salad recipe more authentic: http://www.nolacuisine.com/2005/08/20/muffuletta-olive-salad-recipe/
This is an olive salad sandwich, and not a very good one. Argol got it right: you need finely diced vegetables like celery, carrots, cauliflower, green pepper, green onion. If you threw some decent vegan cheese and soy pepperoni, it might be passable.
The olive salad is rather lame, it should have more garlic and capers, celery, pickled carrots and cauliflower, cayenne, black pepper, thyme, and red wine vinegar
You're right. This is a sandwich, but it isn't a muffuletta. Olive salad on a portobello just doesn't sound all that good anyway.
Oh! This is so very wrong. Just put the olive mix and cheese on roll and don't call it a muffuletta. It's all about the meats, cheese and muffuletta mix and bun that gives it the flavor.It just won't taste the same. Sorry our vegetarian friends.Us carnivores wouldn't ask how to make a vegetarian dish with meat and expect to get the same flavor. LOL! You can get some good muffuletta buns at Labriolla bakery in Oak Brook but call ahead and order for the next day.