Eggplant Muffaletta

Muffaletta is a make-ahead stuffed sandwich, perfect for picnics.

Ingredients:

For the marinated eggplant

2 medium or 1 large eggplant, sliced 3 to 4mm thick

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon liquid smoke

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon chilli flakes or powder (omit if you don’t like it spicy)

A few good grinds of fresh black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

For the olive salad

1 cup stoned olives (black or green or a mix)

¼ cup sundried tomatoes

2 tablespoons capers

Handful fresh parsley leaves

For the sandwich

Pesto (use this recipe or try a vegan brand from the supermarket)

2 large roast capsicums (or equivalent from a jar)

1 round sourdough loaf

100g Angel Food cream cheese, sliced

Instructions:

1.              Mix all of the marinade ingredients and then coat the eggplant slices in it. Set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes while you prepare the rest of the sandwich ingredients.

2.              To roast the capsicums, place them whole (complete with stalk) in a baking dish in a hot oven for about 30 to 40 minutes until they’re slightly charred and quite soft. Set aside and allow to cool.

3.              Make the olive salad: chop the olives, sundried tomatoes and parsley roughly and mix with the capers. Set aside.

4.              To cook the eggplant, coat the bottom of a large frying pan with oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the eggplant slices. Don’t crowd them – cook in two or three batches for about 5 minutes each side, until coloured and tender. When cook, transfer to a plate and set aside.

5.              Time to make the sandwich! Cut the loaf in half sideways (so you have a lid and a base). Using your hands and/or a knife, remove some of the bread from the centre to make space for the fillings. (Use the bread you remove to make crumbs or rustic croutons.)

6.              Spread pesto generously on the inside of the loaf, top and bottom. Then, on the bottom half of the bread, put half of the olive salad, followed by slices of eggplant and capsicum, the sliced cream cheese, and the rest of the olive salad.

7.              Put the top half of the bread carefully over the fillings, then wrap the loaf firmly in paper or plastic wrap. (I like to use the paper bag the bread comes in, and then put it in a plastic bag to stop it drying out.)

8.              You want to put some weight on the loaf and let it sit for a few hours (or overnight) to help the juices from the delicious contents soak into the bread and help it hold together. If it’s sitting overnight it needs to go in the fridge. I fitted my loaf into a short fridge shelf, with a chopping board on top and a wooden spoon filling the rest of the gap between the board and the shelf above, to put pressure on the loaf. It didn’t look pretty but it worked!

9.              Cut into wedges or slices to serve. It’s delicious eaten at room temperature at a picnic, but if you’re at home it’s also delicious baked for 5 minutes in a hot oven so the bread goes a bit crispy and the cream cheese goes a bit melty…. Yum!