Muffaletta: A Mardi Gras Favorite

The Muffaletta is a sandwich layered with provolone, mozzarella, mortadella, salami, ham, and an olive salad. It's named for the loaf of bread that this sandwich is traditionally built on. It was born in the French Quarter of New Orleans... a New Orleans original just in time for Mardi Gras!

You can buy pre-made olive salad, but where's the fun in that? We made our own using our Beano's Submarine Dressing.

What you'll need:

For the olive salad (makes enough for about 3-4 sandwiches):

• 1 cup of green olives
• 1 cup of black olives
• 1 cup of giardiniera 
• 1/2 cup of Beano's Original Submarine Dressing

For the rest of the sandwich (per sandwich):

• 1 small loaf of your favorite bread
• 5 slices of mortadella (a deli meat, ask for it at your deli counter, they should know what you're looking for)
• 4 slices of salami
• 2 slices of mozzarella cheese
• 2 slices of provolone cheese
• 4 thin slices of ham

To make the olive salad, put all of the ingredients except the sub dressing in a food processor (just enough to chop them up, you don't want your pieces too small) if you have one. If not, chop everything up by hand. 

Put your chopped up olives and giardiniera in a bowl and add the sub dressing. Mix well and let it sit for as long as you can (overnight preferably).

Once your olive salad has soaked up all of the flavor from the sub dressing, you can build the rest of the sandwich.

Cut the loaf in half and on the bottom half, start to build your sandwich. Start with the ham, ribbon all 4 pieces along the bread, then layer 2 pieces of the salami on top of that.

Then, lay the mozzarella cheese down, before you add the mortadella. It's not necessary to roll the mortadella, but it looks nice and adds some height to the sandwich.

On top of that, add the layer of provolone, the rest of your salami, and then it's time to add the star of this sandwich: the olive salad! Scoop on as much as want and feel free to eat some as a side as well! Top your sandwich, and there you have it. 

Join us next week for a look at cold cuts, just in time for National Cold Cuts Day!

The Caprese: A White Pizza in Sandwich Form

The Caprese sandwich, named for its shared ingredients with the Caprese salad, also shares an ingredient profile with the white pizza. Traditionally, the ingredients include tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, some seasoning, and olive oil. 

Fun fact: Caprese means in the style of the Italian island of Capri. Capri is a lovely island that is well known for being a popular tourist attraction, even back to the days of the Roman Empire. Also, Greek mythology referred to Capri as the isle of Sirens. 

What you'll need:

A loaf of crusty bread

A tomato

Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Sliced Mozzarella cheese

A bottle of Beano's All-Natural White Pizza Sauce in your        favorite flavor (Oregano, Basil, or Sun-Dried Tomato)

Cut the loaf of crusty bread into the number of sandwiches you would like to make. Typically, a ciabatta loaf will yield two to three sandwiches. Then cut the pieces you're going to use to make your sandwich(es) in half long-ways.

In sticking with tradition, I used the White Pizza Sauce with Basil. Don't forget to shake well before using! I put a little bit (a few squirts from the bottle) on each side of the open bread and spread it around.

Then, I cut a three tomato slices (for one sandwich) and three slices of fresh Mozzarella.

On top of the layer of White Pizza Sauce, I put a slice of the pre-sliced Mozzarella, a layer of fresh Mozzarella, a layer of tomatoes, and another layer of pre-sliced Mozzarella. 

Then, just put the top of the sandwich on and put it in the oven or toaster oven until the cheese begins to melt and the bread is toasted. I did 350 for 7 minutes, but every oven is a little bit different! 

Then, enjoy! Next week, we'll be making a Muffaletta sandwich in honor of Mardi Gras!

How to Impress Your Valentine

This Valentine's Day, bump breakfast in bed up a notch with this recipe for heart shaped eggs in a basket, heart shaped potatoes and bacon!

What you'll need:

• Bread
• Eggs
• Bacon
• Potatoes
• Oil to pan fry the potatoes
• Beano's Southwest Sauce
• Salt and Pepper to taste for the egg and potatoes

There's some prep work that will go into this V-day breakfast. For the heart shaped eggs in a basket, cut a heart shaped hole out of the center of a piece of your sweetheart's favorite bread. You can use a large cookie cutter, or if you're pretty good at eyeballing shapes, feel free to do it free hand with a knife. 

Then, cut out the heart shaped potatoes. I cut the potato into about 1/2 inch thick slices, then cut the potato slices into heart shapes. Here, again, feel free to use a cookie cutter or do it free hand.

I always cook my bacon first (in a pan on medium heat) if I'm making breakfast so that I can use the grease from the bacon to add flavor to the rest of the meal. Then, I put some foil over it and put it in the microwave (don't start the microwave with tin foil on your bacon!!) to keep it warm.

Since the potatoes will take a little bit longer than the eggs in a basket, put these on to fry either alongside the bacon, or right after. I used some of the bacon grease, along with some oil to fry the potatoes. Cook until browned.

For the heart shaped eggs in a basket, toast your piece of bread that we cut the heart shape out of (or you can cook it in a little bit of oil or butter), and put it either in the same pan you cooked the potatoes and bacon in, or grab a new one and lightly oil it. Crack open an egg and empty the contents into the heart shaped void in the bread. Try not to break the yolk!

Let the egg fry until it's done to your sweetheart's taste. Use a spatula to remove the delightful treat from the pan and put it onto a plate. Finish it off by tracing the heart around the egg with some Beano's Southwest Sauce! Yum!