Muffeletta Pizza
List of Ingredients
Muffeletta Pizza
Ingredients:
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, chopped
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1/4 cup pepperoncini, chopped
1/4 cup cocktail onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Roma tomato, chopped
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. dry Italian salad dressing mix
2 oz. Prosciutto or thin-sliced deli ham
2 oz. Genoa or hard salami, thin sliced
4 oz. shredded provolone
2 oz. shredded mozzarella
1 13" uncooked dough crust
Preparation:
Mix first 9 ingredients for marinated olive salad and chill overnight. (Prepared olive salad may be substituted.) Top dough crust in
order with provolone, ham and salami, half of olive salad, and mozzarella. (Amounts of toppings may be more or less depending on
your preferences.) Bake in preheated 500� F oven on pizza stone for 8-10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is
melted. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 2-3 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.
"The Muffeletta"
One of my favorite things to eat in New Orleans, along with beignets and pralines, is a muffeletta sandwich, which derives its unique
taste from a tangy olive salad and is a natural for conversion to a pizza.
First, some muffeletta background - the Italians, who immigrated to New Orleans after the French, Spanish, and African Americans
and settled in the French Quarter, are credited with creating the muffeletta. It originated at the Central Grocery in 1906, which is still
in business selling the sandwich at 925 Decatur St. in the Quarter.
There are four main components to a muffeletta: bread, olive salad, meat, and cheese. As the most important component, a
traditional olive salad is a mixture of green olives, black olives, carrots, cauliflower, and herbs, all marinated in red wine vinegar and
extra virgin olive oil. (There are several versions of olive salad recipes.) The bread is the second most important component and is a
round Italian loaf. There are three meats usually found on a muffeletta sandwich: ham (Prosciutto or some other smoked ham),
salami (Genoa or hard salami), Mortadella (sausage meat from the city of Bologna). The cheeses are mozzarella and provolone.
There are many versions of muffeletta sandwiches in New Orleans, and these are the best.
Muffeletta Pizza has become one of my favorites. It has the four main components of the muffeletta sandwich with the pizza crust
substituted for the Italian loaf. I derived my version of olive salad for pizza by combining and adjusting several different recipes. The
Muffeletta Pizza can also be a very tasty vegetarian pizza by eliminating the meats.
Recipe
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