Muffuletta's and Sub Sandwich's for Boat Club

I was racking my brain trying to figure out something to make and bring to Boat Club this month, and as I was gazing at some lovely Hoagie Rolls, inspiration struck, and it didn't hurt a bit.  Then, when I asked my DH if he had any ideas for what I could make, inspiration struck him too.  

So we both had the idea of making subs out of the rolls, but then I had to go one better.   I've been craving salty/pickle type stuff so I thought I would make a Muffuletta style sandwich out of two of the sub rolls.   Nothing like multipurpose is there?  

One of my favorite things.  Well, one of many...

I think we all know now to make a sub sandwich, and since I'm making this to serve a lot of people, I'll be cutting each sub roll into quarters or fifths.   Just large enough for the filling to stay inside, but not quite enough for a meal, well part of a meal that is.   As you may know if you've read my blog, there is always a surfeit of food at one of our potlucks.

To start with I'm spreading some mustard on one side of the roll, and layering the meat and some cheese on top of that.   And to top that off, I'll add some sliced tomatoes and some shredded lettuce.   I'm putting a wonderful hot pepper relish on the side, as well just in case someone wants to doctor the sub up a little.   Some people like a little hot with their sandwiches.

Look at the pretty tomatoes.   I had a yellow tomato as well as the regular red ones.

I just wrapped up the sandwiches in some plastic wrap and cut them when we reached the club, that way the fillings didn't fall out.    I'm lucky I have a large tray I can place them on.

Now for the fun one.   As I said in the beginning I've been craving something pickled and salty and decided to make some Muffuletta style sandwiches out of a couple of the Hoagie Rolls.    I know these are not real authentic, but they taste good.    I was in the "big city" (well, it's bigger than the one I live in), and saw some Olive Salad on the shelf there, but it looked like it was mostly green olives and pimento's so I decided to use some black olives in there as well as some Kalamata olives to augment it.  

Hey, it's my blog and I can augment if I want to.

At any rate, I did do a taste test first, and then added the chopped black olives as well as a bunch of the Kalamata olives and it looked very pretty, tasted good too.

The red and green and black olives all look so pretty chopped up.

 I do love my little 2 cup food processor.   Makes life just a little easier.  The mixture of the olives looked so pretty, the red of the Kalamata, the green, the black, and it tasted good too.  And I threw in a couple of my favorite garlic stuffed olives as well.    Oh,  and before I forget,  I did add a tablespoon or so of EVOO to the mixture, and placed it in the fridge for a couple of hours for the flavors to mingle and get to know each other and generally hang out for awhile.   Less of a shock to them that way.

After that I got my sandwich meat out of the fridge, I started to put the sandwiches together.   I've discovered this brand is great for a quick Sub Sandwich and I usually have it on hand.

I know a true Muffuleta will have  a lot of other Italian meats, but this is my version and you're stuck with it.  
Drizzle a little EVOO over both sides of the bread

 then spread  it with the olive mixture.

After that, layer the meats and cheeses on top of the olive salad (next time I make this, I'll cut back on the black olives a little, they weren't tangy enough, but it still tasted good).

Spread more olive salad on the other side of the rolls and place very carefully on top of the meat mixture.   Then wrap them tightly in some plastic wrap and place a heavy weight on top of them for about an hour in the fridge.  I did skip the weight part, didn't have room in my fridge to do this properly.  Just wrapped the Sandwiches very tightly.

See, all wrapped up and ready to go to the party.

And here they were.    I did cut them into smaller slices, and they seemed to go over well.    I have to admit to having some Muffuletta left over, but that may be because I didn't put it out?   At any rate, I got to nosh on it for lunch yesterday.   And it was still awesome.

**  I just cut a piece off of the leftover Muffuletta and decided to try heating it a little in the Microwave, and have to say WOW!!!!  I think that's the way to go with this sandwich for me in the future.
Here's a picture of it, before I consumed it and licked the plate.   Just kidding about licking the plate, I licked my fingers instead.

Gotta go and think of something to make for Tapa's night now.   It's coming up this weekend.