muffoletta salad

Central Grocery store in New Orleans is the site of the first Muffoletta sandwich, said to have been invented by Salvatore Lupo, a Sicilian immigrant. In the late 1800's there was an influx of Italian immigrants who found their homes in New Orleans and became sort of Creole-Italians. This sandwich is mainly known for its olive salad, but the bread the sandwich is traditionally served on is itself also known as a mufuletta, a close cousin of the focacccia bread. 

Legend has it that Salvatore's grocery customers would buy some meats, cheeses, olive salad and bread and eat them individually, the ingredients balancing perilously on their knees. Salvatore offered to slice the bread and layer everything into it. And so was born the Muffoletta Sandwich. 

Since this sandwich has earned quite a bit of popularity and since Tami and Celine have the sandwich world well in hand, I decided to convert this sandwich into a salad. The Olive Salad part of this salad is the main component and well made ones are sought after with gusto. My Olive Salad is bursting with green and black olives, pimientos, sun-dried tomatoes (not authentic), garlic, capers, pickled cauliflower and carrots, pepperocinis, olive oil and herbs. I couldn't let the bread just disappear; I made fresh croutons with some Italian bread, laced with plenty of garlic and oregano. 

The Muffoletta Salad is vegan cold cuts, Follow your Heart cheeses, pear tomatoes, grilled onions and the Olive Salad covering shredded lettuce. The dressing is the olive salad itself with the acid coming from the pickled fruits and the olive oil providing the body. Julienne everything, even shredding the lettuce, and you are transported to the Central Grocer, circa 1906, sitting with Salvatore, enjoying a new rendition of his now-infamous sandwich, inhaling a bit of history with each bite.  

Cost Breakdown

3/4 of olive salad: $7.50

lettuce, tomatoes: $2

FYH cheese and Yves: $4

pine nuts: $1

bread: $.50

Total to feed 6 people:

$15.00

     

vine and dine - wild mushroom bouillabaisse

Vine and Dine

Tami Noyes' Vine and Dine is brought to you tonight by the Horizon cookbook. The recipe is Wild Mushroom Bouillabaisse. 

As you all know by now, Tami, of American Vegan Kitchen, has TWO upcoming cookbooks, Grills Gone Vegan and the not-yet-named Sandwich cookbook with Celine Steen. Both are exciting additions to any kitchen! 

As for now, we are making Horizon's Bouillabaisse. If anyone would like to join Tami for Vine and Dine, it is as simple as choosing a vegan bottle of wine, cooking the chosen recipe and digging into both. I know Tami would love to have tons of readers join.  

Our chosen wine was a Pacific Redwood Pinot, which my "Ol' Man" will write more about.

As for the recipe: What exactly is a Bouillabaisse? Basically, it is a seafood soup. The herbs and the variety of fish determine the specialty of this soup. But what really sets this seafood soup apart from the rest of the seafood soups in the world, is how it is served. The broth is served first, with a toasted crouton, spread with a rouille (a thick sauce - in this case a red pepper spread) floating in its midst, not unlike a French Onion Soup with its island of floating bread and cheese. The fish itself is served on a separate platter. 

As the name implies, this bouillabaisse is of mushrooms. I used portobello, crimini, oyster, button, and shiitaki  'shrooms. I roasted pear and cherry tomatoes to add to the browned mushrooms, along with a great vegetable stock and white wine. Unfortunately, this recipe does not call for enough broth to serve separately as is traditional, but that is easily remedied by the home cook. There is also thyme, saffron, olive oil and garlic; all collaborating for a wonderful dish. 

David found that making a meal solely of mushrooms was intimidating. I challenged that as diners we have been so ingrained to believe that a meal without a "protein" isn't complete, that his prejudice of the meal was more psychological than physical. I stand by that; we are literally fed mis-information of what constitutes a meal so much that we cannot enjoy a perfectly delicious dish simply because we are programmed to believe it is just not enough.

As for me, deprogramming was instated a while back and I thoroughly enjoyed the dish.  The Bouillabaisse with another bottle of great vegan wine made me one happy diner. 

The meal for this week’s “Vine and Dine” was a rustic and earthy Bouillabaisse made with wild mushrooms, white wine, saffron, garlic and onions and was a hearty alternative to it’s seafood counterpart. We paired this flavorful culinary morsel with a Pacific Redwood, Organic Pinot Noir (2010) and were pleasantly surprised at the symmetry and cohesion attained.  From the wine bottle's label, we were led to expect a vintage that is “delicate and subtle, with hints of strawberries and mint."  Frankly, neither the “Ol' Lady” nor I could discern the mint, but the strawberries were prominent in the “Nose” of the wine and we very much enjoyed this particular selection.  We usually lean towards Merlots or other reds with more body, but we were both happy that we ventured outside our norm.

Cost Breakdown

Mushrooms: $20

onion, pepper: $3

olive oil, spices: $1

bread: $2

stock, wine: $2

Total for 4 luxurious servings:

$28.00