Neha Khullar's Palate Passport has been mentioned here a time or two since December when I first received her book.

The author states that she spent three years and a lifetime writing Palate Passport, traveling the world collecting experiences and food memories like others collect postcards. The photographs here are lovely and plentiful. The recipes each share an experience. For instance, the South Indian tomato chutney tells the tale of hotel breakfast in Mumbai and a French dinner in St. Martin inspired the Cauliflower shooters. We are lucky to experience these memories through Neha's beautiful narrative, and we can immerse ourselves further by creating these dishes and memories for ourselves in our own kitchens.

I love this collection for its international dishes as I love to travel the globe through cooking, but also because I've learned a thing or two while reading it. When I reached the Singapore carrot cake, I wondered if Neha knew she made a mistake. The photo next to the recipe title was not cake or anything resembling cake and not one hint of orange, where were the carrots! This dish is a spicy, savory dish with Chinese daikon, rice flour, and absolutely no carrots or sugar. I love learning about new dishes and Neha's book is packed with them. Genovese pesto mac and cheese, Australian meat pie rolls, Philly cheesesteak samosa, and Pretzel crusted calamari are other recipes that inspire me.

Today, I made the Soy sauce chicken which I adjusted a bit because I had a whole chicken which I split and it smells incredible. I am looking forward to dinner. Update: We all had a pre-dinner bite and it is marvelous - I can't wait to make this with chicken thighs again. (No bell pepper we aren't fans.)

As we are approaching Fat Tuesday, Neha thought it appropriate to share her New Orleans muffaletta recipe with our members today so that if you are so incline you can gather up the ingredients, throw on some Madri Gras beads, and celebrate like you are in NOLA.  Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Neha is offering two copies of her book to our members in the US and EYB is supplying one copy worldwide. Scroll to the bottom of this post to enter. 

 

New Orleans muffaletta
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Ingredients:

  • ⅔ cup green olives - pitted and coarsely chopped
  • ⅔ cup Kalamata olives - pitted and coarsely chopped
  • ½ cup pimiento peppers - chopped
  • ½ cup hot cherry peppers - coarsely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves - minced
  • 1 anchovy fillet - mashed
  • 2 tablespoons capers - drained and rinsed
  • ½ cup fresh parsley leaves - finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves - finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large round bread loaf (at least 10-12 inches in diameter)
  • ¼ pound salami - thinly sliced
  • ¼ pound capicola - thinly sliced
  • ¼ pound mortadella - thinly sliced
  • ¼ pound provolone - thinly sliced

Method:

1. Place the first 11 ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Reserve this olive salad in the refrigerator until ready to use.

2. To assemble the sandwich, cut the bread lengthwise and if especially thick, tear out some of the doughy inside. Lay the bread slices face-up on the cutting board.

3. Spoon the olive mixture onto both halves of the bread.

4. Layer the meat and cheese onto the bottom half, then close with the top half.

5. Cut the sandwich into quarters and serve immediately, or for better flavor, wrap in plastic and allow the bread to soak up juices for 1 hour before serving.

A traditional-style Muffaletta sandwich consists of a muffaletta-style loaf (a round loaf somewhat similar to focaccia, except lighter on the inside), mortadella, salami, mozzarella, ham, provolone, and a signature olive spread. It hails from New Orleans yet has Italian origins due to the Italian immigrants that settled in the bayou.

What makes the sandwich particularly unique from place to place is its signature olive spread, along with the quality of meats used. The signature olive spread consists of olives chopped with a slew of other pickled vegetables such as carrots and cauliflower; basically what one would find in a bottle of Italian Giardiniera, with olives added.

Unlike other sandwiches with wet ingredients that encourage you to serve the sandwich right away to avoid sogginess, this sandwich pretty much requires a little resting time for all of the flavors to truly marry.

 

The author is offering two copies of her book to EYB Members in the US and EYB is supplying one copy worldwide.  One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on March 23rd, 2018.