Picnic perfect: muffuletta

Is it sunny where you are? Why not dust off your picnic blanket this weekend, get those bare feet used to the feel of earth again and pack your picnic basket with delights like this gourmet muffuletta?
Not sure what muffuletta is? It’s a fancy sort of submarine-style sandwich traditionally made out of a round Sicilian sesame bread.

You can adapt the recipe to suit your own tastes and include some of your favourite fillings.

Ingredients (quantities depend on the size of muffuletta that you’re making):
1 large rustic-style loaf of bread with a thick crust (a sourdough rye or farm-style white loaf is perfect)
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
Pesto (I used Pesto Princess’s Thai pesto with a bit of a bite but you can use any flavour you like)
Sliced salami
Tomato, thinly sliced
Cucumber, thinly sliced
Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
Calamata olives, pitted and sliced
A handful of fresh basil and parsley leaves, chopped
Other great filling options are capers, marinated sundried tomatoes, chilli jam, fresh rocket, marinated peppers, smoked chicken, ham and any of your favourite cheeses.
Method:
1. Cut the loaf in half, horizontally. Hollow the inside of the bread out, leaving approximately 1cm of crust around the edges. Brush the inside of the loaf with olive oil.
Tip: instead of throwing the inside of the bread away, quickly whiz it in a food processor to create fine breadcrumbs for use in other dishes.

2. Spread pesto on the inside of the bread.
3. Start layering your ingredients, starting with the salami. Follow with the tomato, cucumber, mozzarella and then the olives. Sprinkle with the chopped fresh herbs, drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and white wine vinegar (avoid the crust, as this will make it soggy) and season to taste. Repeat these layers until the loaf is full, ending off with salami.
4. Cover with the top crust of the loaf, pressing down firmly with your hands to ‘seal’. Wrap securely in foil and then clingwrap. Put the muffuletta in the fridge to chill for an hour or two, placing a heavy skillet (or something similar) on top of it to compress the fillings and to assist in infusing the flavours.
5. Using a very sharp knife (I used my Victorinox tomato knife because it glides through anything like a dream), slice into individual portions and neatly package in wax paper – or you can just take it to your picnic as is and slice onto plates.
And there we have it, the ultimate gourmet sandwich. Very easy to put together and a rather impressive result.

Buon appetito!

Thanks to Karen Grandcourt for the pics.

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