New Orleans Style Muffaletta Sandwich Bites

New Orleans Style Muffaletta Sandwiches are loaded sandwiches made on crusty Italian bread filled with cheese, Italian deli meats like salami and mortadella, topped off with a tangy homemade olive spread. The entire sandwich gets wrapped up tightly in plastic wrap, and weighted down overnight in the fridge to let all the ingredients meld together into the absolute most flavorful sandwich you’ve ever eaten!


Unlike other sandwiches that usually need to be made and eaten right away, muffalettas are better after a day or two in the fridge so remember to plan in advance! These are perfect for football parties, picnics, packed lunches, and potlucks!

New Orleans’ Style Muffaletta Sandwich Bites
Feel free to swap in your favorite Italian deli meats for the ones listed below.

Makes about 2 dozen mini sandwiches


Ingredients
For the olive spread
1 cup pimento-stuffed green olives
1/4 cup kalamata olives (pitted)
1 cup giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetables)
1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini or banana peppers
1/3 cup capers
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil


For the sandwich
4 large crusty ciabatta or panini rolls (about 6 - 8 inches long each)


1 pound sliced provolone or mozzarella cheese
1 pound genoa salami
1/2 pound mortadella
1/2 pound soppressata
1/2 pound pepperoni


Toothpicks and olives, for garnish


Directions
Make the olive spread: Combine all the olive spread ingredients in a food processor and pulse until combined but still chunky.


Make the sandwiches
Cut the rolls open and spread both halves generously with the olive spread. Layer in the meat and cheese, evenly distributing it among the sandwiches. Close the sandwiches and wrap each one tightly in plastic wrap. Place on a baking sheet and top with a heavy gast iron pan, a stack of books or other heavy objects to press the sandwiches. Place in the refrigerator with he weight on top and chill at least three hours and up to 48 hours.


To serve, unwrap the sandwiches and use a sharp knife to cut into triangles. Garnish each triangle with a toothpick and an olive (optional) and serve.

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5-Ingredient Spicy Creole Shrimp Pizza

Last summer, Eugene and I were lucky enough to spend a few days in New Orleans eating our way through that magnificent city. We came home with a taste for all things Creole, and for a few days, I kept it up, doing my best to recreate some of our new favorite flavors at home.

The thing is, that I soon ran out of the patience needed for those slow-cooking high maintenance dishes.

On a relaxed weekend? Surely!

On a random Tuesday? Um...unlikely.

So when I was offered the chance to try out a variety of new organic simmer sauces from Imagine® and work with them to create a few recipes, I admit that I was a bit skeptical, but curious.

I tend to be a from-scratch kind of girl, but I do love the occasional short-cut if I know it's a quality ingredient, which to me means it's loaded with good REAL ingredients I can pronounce and recognize, and free from GMOs, preservatives, MSG, and other funky stuff.

I've been using Imagine® organic broths for years; it's actually my go-to brand, so on a hunch that these would be just as good, I said yes and crossed my fingers.

You guys have no idea how excited I was to find out they're not only good, but actually amazing!

Perfectly seasoned flavor with fresh-tasting ingredients, and no weird package-y aftertaste.

(Yes, package-y is totally a word.)

Imagine® Culinary Simmer Sauce come in four varieties: Louisiana Creole, Latin Veracruz (which I have awesome plans for so stay tuned!), Portobello Red Wine, and Thai Coconut Curry. Each pouch is enough for a dish that will feed about 4-6 people.

The most basic way of using it to sear up your protein (shrimp, chicken, whatever), add the sauce and let it simmer a few minutes, and boom! Serve it up with a side of some kind.

But that's not all you can do, so I decided to use the Louisiana Creole simmer sauce to make the best/quickest/easiest Spicy Creole Shrimp Pizza ever.

I started off with some pizza dough. Mine was homemade from my fridge, but you can totally use your favorite store-bought refrigerated or frozen dough.

[Oh, and a fun tip? A lot of pizza parlors will happily sell you a pound or two of dough if you just ask. Try it!]

I preheated my oven as high as it would go--seriously, crank that baby up!

Then rolled out the dough on a greased baking sheet, and spread with the Louisiana Creole simmer sauce, the same way you would typically use tomato sauce. I topped it off with some peeled shrimp, a few slices of spicy, smoky Andouille sausage, and mozzarella cheese.

I happened to have a bell pepper that needed to be used up, so I added that in, too, but it's totally not necessary since the sauce already has loads of diced peppers in it.

This went into my preheated oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, and voila! Seriously amazing Spicy Creole Shrimp Pizza.

I added some red pepper flakes and a little parsley on top, then sliced it. Eugene and I devoured this in 5 minutes. Eugene didn't even bother to sit down, just kind of standing with a plate hovering over the counter.

If you'd like to recreate this recipe at home, I've got a fun treat for you! The folks at Imagine® are hosting an awesome sweeps where they're giving away a "Pan with a Plan" prize pack that includes a beautiful sauté pan, four Imagine® Organic Culinary Simmer Sauces, and a $25 gift card. 

They're giving away 48 (!!) of these total, so your chances are pretty great. 

Head on over to the Imagine® Facebook page to enter: http://on.fb.me/1r4uejQ

Good luck!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Imagine® Organic Culinary Simmer Sauces.

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!    

5-Ingredient Spicy Creole Shrimp Pizza Recipe
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
1 pound pizza dough (refrigerated, frozen & thawed, or homemade all work!)
1 package Louisiana Creole Imagine® Culinary Simmer Sauce 
1/2 pound peeled jumbo shrimp
2 andouille sausage links, sliced (about 1 cup; substitute chorizo or other smoked sausage)
1/3 pound mozzarella cheese, sliced

Optional additional toppings/garnishes: sliced bell peppers, diced fresh tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, minced parsley

Directions
Preheat oven to 525 degrees F, or as high as your oven will go.

Grease a pizza pan or baking sheet with baking spray. Roll out your pizza dough and arrange on prepared sheet. (You can make one large pizza, or divide dough in half to make two smaller pizzas.)

Spread Imagine® Culinary Simmer Sauce on the pizza dough, then top with shrimp, sliced andouille sausage, veggie toppings (if using) and sliced mozzarella. Place on the lowest rack in the oven, and bake 10-15 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the toppings are bubbling.

Garnish with red pepper flakes and minced parsley, if desired. Let cool 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

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Cauliflower Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage (Paleo)

Last month, I went up to Vermont to cook for a gluten-free retreat hosted by fellow blogger Brittany Angell. There were quite a few grain and dairy-free diners at the retreat, so I used the opportunity to play around with some easy paleo recipes.

One of everyone's favorite dishes ended up being this Cauliflower Dirty "Rice" with Andoille Sausage.

The dish contains absolutely no grains, because the rice is actually made from cauliflower florets that have been ground up into fine little pieces that resemble rice or couscous.

Cooked quickly on the stove, they can then be mixed with any number of herbs, seasonings, or vegetables to create a satisfying savory dish.

It's a great way to enjoy a starchy-like dish if you're following a grain-free or low-carb diet.

This inspiration from this particular dish came from the sausage.

Whenever I'm up in Vermont, I buy a few packages of this delicious local pork sausage in a variety of flavors (generally chorizo and andouille) to use in my recipes. I wanted to feature the spicy andouille in something, and so the dirty rice was conceived!

Real dirty rice is made with chicken liver or giblets, the dark meat giving the rice a dark or "dirty" appearance. For mine, I only used the sausage along with the rest of the New Orleans cooking trinity: peppers, onions, and celery.  (Though I subbed in orange peppers, because I'm not a fan of green ones!)

The vegetables and spicy sausage cook together in a bit of broth, then are mixed with the cauliflower to create a filling savory dish.

(Another bonus is that, unlike real rice, which can be subpar on the second or third day--cauliflower rice reheats beautifully, so you can enjoy it all week long!)

Fun Stuff: Want to join me in Vermont next time? Click here to read about my upcoming culinary retreat this summer--and how YOU can snag a spot!

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading!     

Cauliflower Dirty Rice with Andouille Sausage

Recipe by Alejandra Ramos | AlwaysOrderDessert.com

A paleo recipe for cauliflower dirty rice with andouille sausage. A great low-carb and grain-free side dish or main course.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower, thick core removed and chopped into florets
• 1/2 Spanish onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 pound smoked andouille sausage, sliced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
• 1 tablespoon smoked spanish paprika (sweet)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. Place 1/3 of the cauliflower florets in food processor with blade attached, and pulse until florets are finely ground about the size of cous cous. Pour ground cauliflower into large bowl, and repeat with rest of cauliflower, in batches. Set aside. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat, and add the onion. Saute until translucent, then add the garlic, celery, and peppers. Saute for 5 minutes, then add the sausage, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is browned. 

3. Stir in the spices, seasoning, and broth, and add the bay leaf. Reduce heat to low, and let simmer 10 minutes, until the liquid is reduce by 3/4. 

4. While the vegetables simmer, heat the rest of the oil over high heat in a second large skillet and add the cauliflower. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until it is cooked, but still firm (no mushy cauliflower!). 

5. Transfer cooked cauliflower to a large bowl, and add the vegetable and sausage mixture (minus the bay leaf!). Mix well to coat, stir in the parsley, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

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Giveaway: Win a Box of New Orleans Chocolates from Sucré

I have a sweet treat for you this Friday! Inspired by my recent travels, I have a delicious New Orleans Chocolate Collection giveaway ($30 value) for you from one of my favorite shops in that fine city, Sucré .

Sucré is a gorgeous pastry and chocolate shop in New Orleans that specializes in creative macarons, truffles, and New Orleans' specialties like their Mardi Gras King Cake. (One of the best in the city!)

The chocolates in this particular box are each inspired by the flavors of the city, including Coffee & Chicory, Praline Pecan, Brown Butter - Meunière, Bananas Foster, and Caramel & Sea Salt. 


To enter, just leave a comment below letting me know one thing you'd love to do, see, or eat in New Orleans (Check out my New Orleans travel story if you need a little inspiration!)

**You can get extra entries by doing any of the following and leaving a separate comment for each one you did. If you don't leave a separate comment, it's just going to count as one entry so LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT. You can leave up to 6 comments (entries) total.

1. Like Always Order Dessert on Facebook. Already a fan? Leave a comment on the page to say hello, then comment here to say you did.  

2. Follow me on Twitter (@nandita) and comment to say you did

3. Post about this giveaway on your own personal or fan page Facebook wall, tagging my FB page, then comment here to say you did.

4. Post the following message or a similar one in your own words on Twitter: Giveaway! Win a box of New Orleans-themed chocolates from @nandita & @SucreNewOrleans: bit.ly/17KTkYQ

(then comment here to say you did)

5. "Pin" an Always Order Dessert recipe or post of your choice on Pinterest and then comment here to say you did.

The winner will be selected via Random Number Generator. Your entry must be in by 5PM EST on Friday, September 13, 2013. US residents only, please.

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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 2

Let's start with breakfast. It should come as no surprise that eating new and delicious things is my favorite part of travel. But out of all the things, it's really breakfast that I love the most.

Going out for dinner or lunch is a fairly common occurrence--especially here in New York City.

But there is something incredibly luxurious about sitting down to a relaxed breakfast in a new city while on vacation.

You're well-rested from a night in a delicious hotel bed. The hunger is real and fresh. And you know that after the meal, a full day of adventure stretches ahead.

(Bonus points if it's a weekday and all the regular people are at work.)

And New Orleans? Oh, New Orleans knows how to do breakfast very, very well.

My favorite meal in New Orleans that weekend came from Stanley, a lovely casual spot located in the heart of the French Quarter on Jackson Square. Eugene found it online the previous night, and because the reviews were amazing and we both thought the name was funny, we decided to give it a shot.

(The restaurant is named after Stanley in the Tennessee Williams play, A Streetcar Named Desire; there is also a more upscale sister restaurant named Stella.)

I admit we were a bit skeptical of its touristy location. Jackson Square is a bustle of activity, even early in the morning, and we had to push through a crowd of people tossing coins at a giant mechanical man just to get to the front door.

Fortunately, there was no need to worry.

Inside, Stanley is lovely and cool with high ceilings, tall windows, and white marble tables and counters.
And the menu?

Oh, baby!

I started with that gorgeous Brandy Milk Punch pictured above, and then chose the Omelet Sandwich, which I swear is the best thing I ate all weekend.

Toasted, buttery multi-grain bread filled with eggs, melted American cheese, crispy bacon, ham, caramelized sweet onions, and a spicy Cajun mayo.

It was breakfast sandwich perfection, and I can't even express to you how badly I'm craving another.

Eugene ordered a spectacular dish called the Breaux Bridge Benedict: thick French baguette slices topped with local pork boudin patties, poached eggs, cheese, smoked ham, and hollandaise.

(Please note the ham garnish. Take that, parsley!)

We also ordered a side of the most beautiful Corned Beef Hash I've ever seen, served over delightfully spicy Creole Breakfast Potatoes.

After breakfast, Eugene and I spent some time wandering around Jackson Square and the rest of the Quarter.

We poked into vintage shops and a charming and possibly haunted bookstore called Crescent City Books, where I bought 7 books--something I slightly regretted as I lugged my billion pound carry-on through the airport the next day.

I also wanted to buy this little guy, but this particular store was closed...

I also dragged Eugene into every single praline and candy shop I saw to take advantage of the copious free samples.

Oh, man, do I love pralines!

This confection is called Mississippi Mud from a store called Laura's Candies, which billed itself as "New Orleans' Oldest Candy Store."

It's a layered chocolate bark made with caramel, chocolate, and pecans, and it took all I had to stop myself from buying a 2lb box of it to bring home.

Speaking of sugar...

We, of course, had to stop at Cafe du Monde so that Eugene could have his first taste of beignets.

Eugene wanted to share an order, but I put a swift stop to that, and we each got our own order of three, burning hot and piled high with powdery sugar. We also each got a cup of that famous chicory coffee.

We walked the donuts off by wandering through the French Market. The flea market part wasn't very thrilling (it was very similar to the ones in NY except with more masks and beads), but the food part was magnificent.

Had we not already eaten, I probably would have tried a dozen different things. 

We kept wandering and eventually found ourselves on Frenchmen Street, which is a great place to go at night for live music (and much more relaxed than crazy ol' Bourbon).

 I loved these signs at one of the clubs on Frenchmen. Get your soul right! (This, by the way, is Domenic. Thanks, YouTube!)

I wanted to go the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum as I'm fascinated by old time-y pharmacies (tinctures! linaments!), but it was closed. 

These blue dogs, by contemporary artist George Rodrigue, can be spotted all over the city. We saw them used in ads, on building murals, and on paintings in just about every restaurant we went to. We finally looked it up to learn more.

The sign on the left was on a window across from our hotel, The International House.

"Here's to the creative ones," is the hotel's motto, and they had large photographs and mixed media paintings of John Lennon, Steve Jobs, and Audrey Hepburn and others decorating their walls. They also host regular events honoring talented creatives. (Check out their Pinterest page).

Eugene wanted to see the "Mighty Mississippi," so the absolute last thing we did before leaving was walk over to the water to watch the riverboats go by.

I can't wait to get back to this city.

xoxo

Alejandra


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.




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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 

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Travel Diaries: New Orleans, Part 1

New Orleans is so many amazing things at once.

Old and new. Elegant and bawdy. Urban and tropical. Loud, and yet also beautifully and peacefully silent.

There is sadness, but also so much humor.

And there is a heat that flows through, swirling around and pulling you along, encouraging you to taste and experience as much as you can. It's lusty. It's indulgent.

It's all of the things that I love.

I was lucky enough to spend a few days in this magical city last month.

It was only a weekend, but we made a point of exploring and eating and soaking in as much as we possibly could, and now I want to share a few of those moments with you.

The streets of the city were sprinkled with red that first day. It was the morning of the Red Dress Run, a yearly charity run that brings out the young and old, male and female, in bright red dresses and sneakers.

We saw them everywhere--waiting in line for breakfast. Browsing through shops. And as we got closer and closer to the Quarter, the red filled out more and more until we were completely surrounded.

Eugene wanted to skip Bourbon Street to avoid the commotion, but I pulled him in for one block. I wanted to feel how it felt to get swept along in that sea of red enthusiasm, smiles, and music.

I felt a little bit envious of the others, and wished that I could change into a red dress and join right in.

The heat that weekend was heavy, breaking into thick tropical rainstorms that kept sending us running for cover.

Though we'd come prepared with a loose itinerary, we quickly decided to just let the weather guide our plans, walking along while the sun shined, and ducking into bars and shops when the fat droplets started to fall.

It was the perfect way to experience the city.

One of the first places we fell into was named Kingfish.

Named after former Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long (nicknamed "The Kingfish"), it's an elegant cocktail bar and restaurant with a cool, classic feel to it.

We took seats at the bar and ordered drinks from a pretty red-haired bartender who chatted easily with us.

A refreshing Pimm's Cup for me. A classic Sazerac for Eugene.

We actually only intended to stay for one drink, but the place was so lovely and the conversation was so nice, that we each ordered a second and then decided to get lunch, too.

New Orleans is a perfect place for lingering...

When the rain stopped, we pulled ourselves away from our cozy spot and headed back out for another round of exploration along those gorgeous streets.

So many colors...

 Old time-y streetcars and palm trees make me incredibly happy.

So do masks and feathers.

When the rain started again, we ran into a little dive bar called Molly's Irish Pub where we sipped good, strong drinks and watched people escaping from the rain.

I loved these three and took their picture.

And then this guy saw me and jumped in to have his picture taken, too!

The one thing Eugene wanted was "a lot of oysters," so we made our way to Felix's, which is across from the slightly more famous Acme, and ordered oysters all of the ways: charbroiled, raw, and a po'boy.

Hot, smokey, and buttery oysters. They're the kind of delicious you eat with eyes closed, not caring about anything but the taste.

The raw oysters were huge and meaty, and not too briny. We topped them off with lemon juice and extra-spicy cocktail sauce that we mixed up ourselves right on the table.

Eugene was a happy dude.

For dinner our first night, we headed to ROOT, a bright, airy, and fairly new restaurant on Julia Street that, like so much of New Orleans, serves dishes that combine the old and the modern.

The dishes seemed to alternate between dainty, like this soup, and outright decadent, like my Cohiba-Smoked Scallops with Chorizo Dust that arrived inside of a wooden cigar box.

That dish was like kissing a man, I swear.

We also ordered this, which I think was called something along the lines of: "All of the sausage in the world + pickles."

Recommended for sharing, Eugene and I demolished most of it as an appetizer, and then laughed when a huge party of 8 next to us ordered the same thing.

"Amateurs!" we giggled under our breaths.

After dinner, we slowly wandered back to our hotel, already discussing what to do about breakfast the next day.

Click Here to read Part II of my New Orleans Travel Diary, where I share the most delicious thing I ate all weekend.


Disclaimer: Eugene and I were invited to visit New Orleans as guests of The New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation #FollowYourNOLA campaign. Our travel, lodgings, and most of our meals were paid for, but all opinions and experiences are, of course, my own.

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Love Always Order Dessert? Let's connect! Follow me on Twitter or Pinterest, become a fan on Facebook, or sign up to receive my once-a-week e-mail updates. And if you ever need any entertaining or cooking advice, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Thanks for reading! 

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