New Orleans Muffaletta and Beignets
On a recent trip to New Orleans, Ben, J and I had the opportunity to stop by the Central Grocery, the originator of the muffaletta sandwich (pictured below). The sandwich itself is roughly the diameter of a basketball with layers of meat (including salami, ham and mortadella), swiss cheese and an amazing olive relish that includes a lot of veggies. It is quite filling and extremely tasty. We both agreed that the olive relish is really what makes the sandwich so unique and wonderful. We have tried some sandwiches by the same name in Cleveland and have even bought some olive relish claiming to be muffaletta sandwich spread, but we have never tasted anything that came close to the sandwich from the Central Grocery.
We also had to stop by Café du Monde on our way back to our hotel. We ordered beignets (pictured above) and a frozen café au lait. The beignets were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and covered with a generous amount of powdered sugar. The frozen coffee drink was unlike anything at Starbucks. We have tried to make similarly flavored iced coffee at home with chicory, but it always ends up tasting bitter. This coffee tasted chocolaty, and we were thinking that the generous quantities of milk and sugar brought out the good flavors. Jonathan was not a big fan of the muffaletta, but he did enjoy the beignets quite a bit — notice the serious look of concentration on his face:
Here is a great coffee cooler recipe for you:
Frozen Coffee Cooler
Brew your favorite flavored coffee twice as strong as you normal do. (This can be stored in Refrigerator for up to 4 days)
Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar while it is hot and let it cool
Glass with ice cubes and brewed coffee, cooled
half-and-half or milk
Garnishes: whipped cream, ground cinnamon, mint leaf or etc
Fill glass with ice, pour in cooled brewed coffee, add about a table spoon or two of half and half. Process ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Pour coffee mixture back into serving glass.
Top coffee mixture with whip cream, and garnish, if desired. Serve immediately.
Be creative in you presentation
Harvey
Jelks Coffee Roasters
Shreveport, LA
Thanks, Harvey. We’ll definitely try out that recipe!
I love Café du Monde. Did you buy the mix so you can make beignets at home?
–Dave
The mix is the best way. Your grocery might have it. If know let me know and I will see if I can get it for you. Also the the Muffaletta,s we carry the olive salad mix that you can use with them. See it here
http://www.jelks-coffee.com/newshop/contents/en-us/d215_boscoli.html
We bought the mix the last time we were there, and the beignets we made weren’t nearly as good as those at Café Du Monde. The first recipe that comes up on google calls for yeast instead of baking powder, so we might try that one. And we might order some of that olive salad mix, which would probably be yummy even on vegetarian sandwiches.
The olive mix is great just on crackers or sliced french or garlic bread. The beignets secret is most likely the hot oil as well as the mix and most of all being in New Orleans
Hi Harvey,
I tried your coffee recipe and the google beignet recipe. You didn’t say how much coffee to use, but I used 4 cups and it turned out really well. The google beignet recipe was good too–they really puffed up–but Sarah commented that the yeast flavor wasn’t in the ones at Café Du Monde. So you were probably right about the mix, and we probably just didn’t heat the oil hot enough last time.
The beignets and coffee were so good that we’re having them for breakfast tomorrow too.
Thanks!
–Ben