The (Muffuletta) Sandwich

You may have noticed that I have "The Sandwich" listed on my monthly menu sometimes.  

You may have wondered what the difference is between "a" sandwich and "the" sandwich.

Or you never noticed :)

The Sandwich is one of Aaron's favorites!  

There used to be this business called Dinners by Design in my hometown.  You would go in and prepare a whole bunch of meals, take them home and pop them in the freezer to defrost whenever you wanted to eat them.  

My mom would take me and it was super fun (you kind of felt like you were on a cooking show because all of the prep work was done for you) and very convenient.  

We learned about The Sandwich at Dinners by Design.

This is my version!

The Sandwich is basically a midwestern mom's version of a muffuletta sandwich.

I'm not claiming that this is authentic, but I am claiming that it is delicious!

To start out, make your marinated olive salad.

In a bowl combine...

This is probably the biggest departure from an authentic muffuletta.  The olive salad would additionally have giardiniera, which is pickled vegetables.  

Anyway, I just used cheap, little green olives and medium black olives, but you can use the big guys, too, if you want.

Next, add some olive oil.

Stir to combine and then put into a smaller bowl, cover, and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

I use ciabatta rolls for The Sandwich.  Authentic muffuletta uses a big, round, disc-like loaf, but I like to use individual sized rolls instead.

I just get these at Walmart, actually.

Place your opened roll on a cookie sheet.  On 1 side, pile ham and salami and place a slice of provolone cheese. 

I do 4 slices of ham and 3 slices of salami, but you can really pile it on if you feel like it.

Bake it in the oven at 375 degrees until you can smell the cheese and then give it another few minutes until the sides of the salami curl up and start getting crispy and the cheese is lightly browned.

That comes out to be between 10 and 15 minutes.

Top the meat side with about 1/4 cup olive salad 

and close The Sandwich up with the cheese side and serve!

I don't up the olive salad on Aaron's.  For him, I put on a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette and some lettuce.

Oh, and feel free to eat the rest of the olive salad, because it is so delicious!

Enjoy Aaron's favorite!