Summer in LA means warm days (or face-melting, oven-like heat if you’re in the valley), longer hours of sunlight and outdoor evening events, namely watching classic movies…in a cemetery.

{hollywood forever cemetery}

I recently got to relive the terror of the T-Rex staring right into that Explorer while enjoying a picnic with our dearly departed at Cinespia’s screening of Jurassic Park. For about $10, you get a spot on the lawn to watch the movie and break bread with your friends, or in our case, muffalettas.

{eeeek! dinosaurs!}

NB: To truly get into the spirit, one should always wear a themed t-shirt to an event like this. Also, LOOK HOW ADORABLE THE OMNOMNOMNIVORE IS! (yes, I own this and yes, I wore it to JP).

{omnomnomnivore!}

A constant struggle I have with picnics is finding foods with longevity or or transport-friendly (aka will this keep after sitting in a picnic basket for hours?). The best answer in sandwich form: the Muffaletta.

{muffaletta sandwich}

Since the idea behind the muffaletta is to let everything soak into the bread, it’s perfect to pack hours (or even the day) before your picnic and will last the long trek from your car to the cemetery.

The “recipe” for this sandwich is hardly set in stone, but I took a few more culinary liberties and came up with this:

Olive Salad

1 small can seeded and sliced black olives
1 jar artichoke hearts
red pepper flakes
a bit of dried oregano and dried basil
1 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Slowly add spicesred pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Cover in refrigerator for a few hours (the longer, the better so the flavors can soak into each other).

{olive salad}

 The Sandwich

olive salad
mortadella
salame
sliced mozzarella
sliced provolone
loaf of ciabatta bread

Slice bread in half and layer mozzarella on one side and provolone on the other. Bake in the oven until the cheese is melted. Add olive salad to one side and layer the mortadella and salame on the other. Combine both sides and slice into individual sandwiches. Wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready for your picnic!

{muffaletta layers}

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