The Greek Muffuletta

I recently had The Greek Muffuletta while over at a friend's house for dinner. This sandwich has become a tradition of theirs ever since his dad told his Ya-ya (his dad's mother in law) that he was going to make the "greek muffuletta", as a joke, but realized he had to come up with something after the excitement she showed for the idea. This recipe is great for summer - you get to fire up the grill and the feta, kalamata olives, and tzatziki sauce are fresh and cool, perfect for a hot day. The pork with the marinade would stand on its own and this is THE recipe for tzatziki.

We had our Muffuletta as individually made sandwiches, although you certainly could get a big round loaf of bread, make the sandwich all at once and serve in wedges, like a traditional Muffuletta. Make sure to toast the bread on the grill and do not skimp on the olive salad or the Snaxy Sauce! It goes great with a greek style cucumber salad and a dry white wine or a hoppy beer like a pale ale or IPA. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 lbs pork tenderloin (serves 4-6)
ciabatta bread

Marinade:
1 lemon
1 cup dry white wine
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
olive oil
salt
pepper

Olive salad:
kalamata olives
fresh feta
roasted red peppers (from a jar is fine)

Snacky Sauce (Tzatziki):
1 large container of Greek yogurt (2% fat content or more)
2 small cucumbers
2 large cloves of garlic
fresh dill

To make the marinade, use the juice of the lemon and some of the zest with the rest of the ingredients. My friend's family uses Penzey's Lemon Pepper spice mix, but that's mostly just salt, lemon zest, and pepper. Go easy on the salt, because the olives and feta are inherently salty. Marinate for up to two days.

To make the olive salad, simply pit the olives if needed, chop them with the roasted red peppers and add crumbled feta and a little olive oil.

Perhaps the most important part is the tzatziki, or as we like to call it, Snacky Sauce. The sandwich would probably still be good with out it, but it certainly adds to the Greekness. If you can't get Greek yogurt (or something similarly thick), don't even bother with it. I've tried making it with American style yogurt and it just ends up runny. The second most important thing about the Snacky Sauce is to drain the cucumbers. Slice them, put them on a paper towel and sprinkle salt on them. This will draw out some of the water in the cucumbers and you can rinse the salt off after they have drained. Finely blend the garlic in a food processor or blender until there aren't any discernable chunks, then add the cucumbers and process some more, until they are finely chopped. Stir it all into a bowl with the yogurt and dill. Yum.