Crazy, Frenchie, Cool: Pan Bagnat
Many people think I'm the whiz in the kitchen and my husband idly stands by, enjoying the fruits of my labor. This is entirely untrue and I must give credit where credit is due (especially since he often helps with much of the preparation AND does the dishes). Tonight, for example, my husband took the lead on this awesome sandwich. Well...actually, he made the whole thing. And it was marvelous.
While touring the streets of Paris last Spring, we encountered many a pan bagnat, realizing its splendor. It's simple and complex, all at the same time, and can easily be varied according to tastes. Pan bagnat means wet, or bathed, bread. The baguette in this sandwich is bathed in olive oil and stuffed to the brim with marinated green peppers, shallots and radishes, along with tuna, anchovies, tomatoes and basil. Short on time and long on hunger, we slightly adapted this Serious Eats recipe, omitting the hard-boiled eggs and added tuna. If you have some hard-boiled eggs on hand, they would be a lovely addition, but I always seem to forget when it comes time to make this sandwich and then don't want to put in the effort.
Giving things a Minnesota touch, we used a local tomato and green pepper. And for the bread, we made a stop at Rustica, my husband's favorite bakery in town, to pick up a freshly baked baguette. One last quick tip for those of us who are horticulturally challenged but love fresh basil: Check out Lakewinds Co-op for fresh basil in bulk. At $17.99/lb., I bought as much basil as I could possibly want or need to make this sandwich for $0.18! Super cheap and no moldy, forgotten fresh basil hidden in the back of the refrigerator. Everybody wins.
Pan Bagnat
Serves: 2-3
Preparation Time: 45 minutes (or more, can be made the night before)
Ingredients:
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 radishes, sliced
1/2 lemon, juiced (or about 1/4 c. lemon juice)
Salt/pepper, to taste
Olive oil
1 baguette
handful of basil leaves (see tip above about buying only as much as you need in bulk)
1/4 c. Niçoise olives, pitted and sliced
1 can good-quality chunk light tuna in olive oil, drained (we tried Neptuna brand in olive oil with lemon and pepper from Kowalski's—a bright, fresh addition)
12 anchovies, drained
1 small-medium garden tomato, thinly sliced
Method:
1. Dice pepper and shallot, and slice radishes. Add all three to a bowl along with lemon juice, 1 tbsp. olive oil and salt/pepper to taste. Mix well and let sit while preparing the rest of the sandwich.
2. Slice baguette length-wise, but not cutting all the way through, leaving a hinge on one side of the baguette. Liberally drizzle the bread with olive oil (remember we're bathing the bread). Start layering ingredients into the sandwich, starting with the basil leaves as your base, followed by olives, tuna, anchovies and tomato slices. Top with marinated peppers, shallots and radishes.
3. Tightly wrap sandwich in two layers of foil and then set a heavy, cast-iron skillet (or other large, heavy object) on top of sandwich in fridge. Let sit for about 30 minutes, allowing flavors to sink in. In the meantime, put on your beret and pour some wine.
