Muffaletta Salad

I made a muffaletta sandwich to bring to the picnic at Red Hill Farm. Let's just say not my finest hour. For starters, it was too big to put the lid on the container I transported it in. Needless to say, when we opened the bag, there was muffaletta everywhere. I managed somehow to put it back together, only to have it basically fall apart as you ate it with both hands firmly grasping what you could of the sandwich. Flavor wise, it was pretty spot on, though I think I missed the pesto part.

When we got home we had quite a bit left and were hungry after taking Elvis for a walk through the neighborhood. Not wanting to add to the mounds of leftovers already in my fridge (see next post), I decided to dice it up and try to make a salad out of it. I added a bit more cheese (you can never have too much cheese), a few more gardiniera veggies(an italian pickled veg mix- oh so tasty-we like the spicy variety), and cooked up a couple veg-friendly chicken nuggets for my protein-loving husband. All in all, not a fantabulous salad, but a pretty tasty one that was heartily enjoyed on the front porch with Elvis lying at our feet ;)

***********************EDIT****************************

So I realized that my goal for this blog was to be a recipe blog and I just posted a photo and talked about a meal without posting the recipe. So, here is the original muffaletta recipe that I based my sandwich off of from Rachael Ray Magazine. For the picnic and this salad however, I merely put together what I could remember during my after-work grocery store rush.

1 eggplant

2 portabello mushroom caps

1 vadalia onion

1 green pepper (i would recommend a red pepper instead)

Toss lightly with olive oil and roast at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Refrigerate.

1 sourdough round loaf

Provolone or havarti cheese (i bought havarti- it was much cheaper)

Gardiniera mix (comes in spicy or mild, often near the pickles and olives)

baby spinach

Cut off top 1/4 portion of loaf and scoop out the insides of the bread, leaving the crusty crust and about 1/2 inch of bread. Layer the veggies, cheese, and then spinach. Stuff the gardiniere in the top portion of the bread (messy- i know), and press on top of sandwich. Press down on sandwich so contents smush together.

For the salad version, see above.