A taste of Louisiana…

I would love to think we all enjoy trying new things.  Some more than others.  But, I know I am at the top of the list with this lately.  A really good friend of mine went to Mardi Gras this year.  She asked me if I wanted her to bring anything back for me to chow down on.  Surely I wasn’t going to pass this one up.  I told her to surprise me, and it actually worked out quite nicely.

Now, the product we ended up with was a jar of Italian Olive Salad from The Original Progress Grocery.  I will be the very first to tell you that I am not wild about olives.  However, there was something about this that seemed quite intriguing.  It contains chunks of green olives, pimento, carrots, celery, and small pieces of broccoli and cauliflower.  Sure, it doesn’t sound too amazingly appetizing to some in theory.  But, it was very good in reality.

We were advised to make a meaty cheesy sandwich to try it with.  We used Pastrami, Hard Salami and Asiago Cheese.  Instead of a French Bread loaf, we used Onion Rolls.  The first bite of the sandwich kind of smacks you in the face….quite hard for the non-olive connoisseur.  The saltiness lingers, but the texture makes up for the previous smack.  For some reason I had the urge to try it next time with some slivered almonds on the sandwich accompanying the Italian Olive Salad (not sure where that odd idea came from).  Overall, it added a nice addition to our delicious sandwich. 

We researched this product in our local grocery store, but only found similar products that looked like they had been over-processed in a food processor.  This was nice and chunky.  It’s kinda the same premise of a good salsa.  You don’t want something too processed looking.  It’s good to have chunks and texture.  Thank you to Perrone and Sons in Metairie, LA for a great tasty product.

And, thank you to my Louisiana loving friend for our special treat!

Visit Perrone and Sons here.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.