Mediterranean Veggie Muffuletta
"My vegetarian version of the delicious, squished sandwich. :) Prep time includes chilling."
- Ready In:
- 6hrs 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 19
- Serves:
-
6-8
ingredients
-
Dressing and olive salad
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1⁄4 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried)
- 4 tablespoons minced fresh basil (or 2 tsp dried)
- salt and pepper
- 1⁄2 cup olive oil
- 1⁄3 cup sliced green olives (with pimentos, if you like)
- 1⁄3 cup sliced black olives
- 1⁄4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste (optional)
-
Sandwich
- 1 eggplant, about 1 lb
- 1 (16 ounce) French bread (round or oval loaf) or (16 ounce) sourdough bread (round or oval loaf)
- 6 ounces sliced smoked provolone cheese
- 4 ounces mozzarella cheese
- 1 (14 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained (or roast your own)
- 2 cups thinly sliced tomatoes
- 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup shredded iceberg lettuce or 1 cup romaine lettuce
directions
- Combine the dressing and olive salad ingredients and stir together thoroughly; chill in refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.
- Trim the stem off the eggplant and slice lengthwise - slices should be about 1/4" thick and the skin should be left on for easier broiling.
- Arrange slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and brush with half the vinaigrette dressing; broil slices 4 to 5 inches from heat source for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Cut (round) loaf of bread horizontally and pull out some of the soft center to allow room for sandwich filling.
- Drain the olive salad from the dressing, reserving the dressing.
- Put half of the olive salad over the base of the loaf.
- Now create layers of broiled eggplant, half of the cheeses, half of the peppers, half spinach, half tomatoes, half lettuce, and drizzle with a tablespoon of the reserved dressing; repeat all layers, and end with a third layer of eggplant.
- Drizzle the remaining dressing (or as much as you like) with olives on the underside of the loaf "lid" and place on top of sandwich.
- Wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
- Note: some muffuletta lovers continue with the following directions - my personal preference is to do so, but it's up to you: place the filled loaf on a plate or flat pan; cover with another pan and load several pounds of weight on top (you can use canned goods, a bag of sugar, whatever you have that is heavy); refrigerate for at least 4 hours; this compresses the sandwich, marrying flavors and making it easier to cut and serve; cut into small wedges for serving.
- The flavors are best if the muffuletta is chilled for at least 4 hours and then brought to room temp before cutting and serving.
Questions & Replies
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Reviews
-
This is absolutely amazing. I did make several alterations. I used turkey and cheese instead of eggplant. The result received rave reviews. This dressing is wonderful!
Tweaks
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This is absolutely amazing. I did make several alterations. I used turkey and cheese instead of eggplant. The result received rave reviews. This dressing is wonderful!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Julesong
Tukwila, 87
<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
