Pan Bagnat
Provencal picnic -Celebrate Bastille Day with a menu to enjoy en plein air.
In spirit and practice, Bastille Day, July 14, is to France what the Fourth of July is to the United States: a nationwide celebration with parades, parties, and fireworks. And picnics, of course! Here we look to the south of France, particularly Provence and the Riviera, for inspiration. Pan bagnat is the superstar sandwich of Nice, ubiquitous in the city’s food shops and markets. The name translates loosely as “bathed bread.” Think of it as a salade nicoise – tuna, anchovies, hard-cooked egg, tomatoes, olives, and more – on bread. Moist and drippy, the sandwich is “bathed” in olive oil and the juices exuded by the filling. Accompany the sandwich with tangy marinated vegetables a la grecque, a French classic, and earthy roasted chickpeas, which you pop as if they were cocktail nuts.
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, grated
1½ tablespoons minced anchovies
1 small loaf crusty French bread, preferably Iggy’s francese, halved horizontally
12 large basil leaves, torn
1 5-ounce can oil-packed tuna, drained of about half the oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup Kalamata or nicoise olives, pitted and roughly chopped
2 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
1 medium tomato (about 8 ounces), cored and cut into ½-inch-thick slices
Salt and black pepper
4 very thin slices red onion
1/3 cup thin strips roasted red bell pepper
In a medium bowl, mix the oil, garlic, and half the anchovies. Using your fingers, pull out enough of the soft interior from each bread half to form a shallow cavity. Brush the interior of each piece of bread with half of the oil-garlic mixture; scatter half the basil on each piece. Set aside.
In the bowl used for the oil mixture, mix the tuna, lemon juice, and remaining anchovies and spread the mixture evenly over one of the bread halves. Arrange the olives, eggs, and tomato evenly over the tuna, and sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste. Arrange the onion and roasted pepper strips over the filling, top with the other bread half, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Place the wrapped sandwich on a sturdy plate, top with a heavy weight, and leave until the bread is almost soaked and the filling is compacted, about an hour. Unwrap, cut into portions, and serve.
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