French Tuna Salad Sandwich: Pan Bagnat

French "Pan Bagnat" is considered one of the supreme picnic foods by many people in France, especially in its home region of southern France around Nice and vicinity. The meaning of the French name is "bathed bread," because the bread is bathed in olive oil and some vinaigrette. It is a combination of the famous French salad, "Salad Niçoise,"* although not everyone uses all of the varied salad ingredients in this sandwich; in fact, some do not even use tuna, but rather sardines and/or anchovies. The foundation of this sandwich is the bread and the olive oil. "Traditionally" small crusty loaves of bread are used, or crusty rolls, typically a day or two old, as the crust will stand up to the oil and vinaigrette and soak it in, but not fall apart. Baguettes are also used and then sliced into sections. The thing is, not everyone can bite into and chew crusty bread, including me, so I use somewhat softer bread or rolls, although I give them just a little toasting first. You also want to use tuna packed in olive oil, and then use good extra virgin olive oil for the sandwich. The small dark Niçoise olives are traditional for this sandwich (and for the salad), but they may be difficult to find, and Kalamata olives or other dark olives are fine. I'm not very fond of the common canned black olives sold in U.S., but if you like them, hey, who am I to condemn you to being chopped like a "Salad Niçoise?" While certainly not traditional, if you like some "heat," add some chopped chili pepper, or a couple of small whole chilies to the sandwich. I've actually seen this sandwich made with green beans added! One more thing, if you find these sandwiches somewhat messy, do not despair, you've likely succeeded, as they are meant to be almost dripping with olive oil and the juices from the sandwich. 

Ingredients:

 

2 cans (6 ounce cans) tuna in olive oil

2/3 of a sliced red bell pepper (thinly sliced into about 2 inch slices)

1/3 cup chopped red onion (small chop)

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 or 3 small tomatoes (Romas are good for this, but if you don't have them, say "Arrivederci Roma"), thinly sliced

1/3 cup halved Niçoise olives (or Kalamata olives)

5 to 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use

1 or 1+ tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon honey

6 to 8 basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

baguettes, kaiser rolls or small loaves of ciabatta bread 

serve with some cornichons on the side

 

Cut each piece of bread or roll in half lengthwise. You can take out a little of the inside of both halves of the bread/rolls to make a little room for the filling. In a bowl mix together the tuna (with its olive oil), red bell pepper slices, red onion, garlic, olive halves, ground black pepper, salt and 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. In a cup, mix together 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and 1teaspoon honey (taste the mixture and you can add more vinegar if that suits your taste). Put a few of the thinly sliced tomato pieces on the bread/rolls (if you've removed some of the bottom of the bread, put the tomato slices there). Spoon some of the tuna salad onto the tomato slices and smooth it out. Drizzle on some of the dressing and then add a couple of basil leaves. Place the tops on the sandwiches and press down a bit, then wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap. Put a tray or plate on top of the sandwiches with some fairly heavy item, like a skillet, to weigh them down, and put them into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but 8 or 10 hours is better. 

 

* For "Salad Niçoise," here is the link:  https://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2016/07/salad-nicoise-sort-of.html

 

I added a few cornichons on the side ...

WORD HISTORY:

Scald-This word is likely distantly related to "callus," a word borrowed by English from Latin, but it is related to "chowder," "cauldron," and "calorie," all Latin words borrowed via Latin-based French. "Scald" goes back to Indo European "kel(he)," which meant, "warm, hot." This gave Latin the verb "caldere," meaning, "to be warm/hot" (with other meanings over time). Latin added the prefix "ex" ("out, out from, away from") from Indo European "eghs," which had those meanings and many similar ones. This gave Latin "excaldere," meaning, "to make warm or hot by putting into warm/hot water;" thus also, "to bathe in warm/hot water." This gave Old French "eschalder" meaning, "to rinse or bathe with warm or hot water," with the northern French dialects (rendered as "escalder") meaning, "to burn with hot water or other hot liquid." This was borrowed by English in the first half of the 1200s as "scalden," with that same meaning, "seemingly" a little later adding the meaning, "to heat liquid to near boiling." As English verb conjugation changed, the "en" ending was dropped.