Chef Ally
Black Bean Tostadas with Pickled Onion
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Culinary Explorer
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Pan Bagnat
Created by
The Provençal sandwich that improves with time: crusty bread bathed in olive oil, layered with summer tomatoes, oil-packed tuna, eggs, olives, and basil, then pressed until the flavors become inseparable.
Sandwiches & Wraps
French
Picnic
Make Ahead
Outdoor Dining
25 min
Active Time
0 min cook•2 hr 25 min total
Yield4 sandwiches
Pan bagnat is salade niçoise in sandwich form, and it is the finest picnic food I know. The name means bathed bread in the Niçoise dialect, which tells you everything about how it is made. The bread drinks olive oil until it softens. The tomatoes release their juice. Everything melds into one thing.
This is a sandwich you make ahead because it demands time. Two hours minimum. Overnight if you can manage it. The pressing transforms it. When you unwrap it, the bread will have compressed around the filling, the layers fused together, the flavors married in ways that fresh assembly cannot replicate.
Start with the tomatoes. They should be summer tomatoes at their peak, heavy and fragrant before you slice them. If the tomatoes are not ripe, wait for another day or another sandwich. Everything else follows from that. Good bread, honest olive oil, tuna packed in oil rather than water. The anchovy is traditional and I encourage it. It adds a depth that you will miss without it, even if you cannot name what is missing.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
round boule or French rolls
Quantity
1 large boule or 4 rolls
extra-virgin olive oil
Quantity
1/2 cup
divided
red wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
olive oil-packed tuna
Quantity
2 cans (5 ounces each)
drained
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
3 medium
sliced 1/4-inch thick
red onion
Quantity
1 small
sliced paper-thin
hard-boiled eggs
Quantity
4
sliced
Niçoise or Kalamata olives
Quantity
1/2 cup
pitted and halved
capers
Quantity
2 tablespoons
drained
anchovy fillets (optional)
Quantity
4
cucumber
Quantity
1 small
sliced thin
green bell pepper
Quantity
1 small
seeded and sliced into rings
fresh basil leaves
Quantity
12
flaky sea salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly cracked
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| round boule or French rolls | 1 large boule or 4 rolls |
| extra-virgin olive oildivided | 1/2 cup |
| red wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| olive oil-packed tunadrained | 2 cans (5 ounces each) |
| ripe tomatoessliced 1/4-inch thick | 3 medium |
| red onionsliced paper-thin | 1 small |
| hard-boiled eggssliced | 4 |
| Niçoise or Kalamata olivespitted and halved | 1/2 cup |
| capersdrained | 2 tablespoons |
| anchovy fillets (optional) | 4 |
| cucumbersliced thin | 1 small |
| green bell pepperseeded and sliced into rings | 1 small |
| fresh basil leaves | 12 |
| flaky sea salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly cracked | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Serrated bread knife
- •Pastry brush for the oil
- •Heavy weight for pressing (cast iron skillet, cans, or a brick)
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the bread
Slice the boule in half horizontally, or split each roll. Pull out some of the soft interior crumb to create shallow wells on both halves. This gives the filling room to settle without making the sandwich unwieldy. Save the crumb for breadcrumbs if you like.
- 2
Dress the bread generously
Whisk together the olive oil and red wine vinegar. Brush or drizzle this mixture generously over both cut surfaces, using all of it. The bread should drink the oil. This is not a light touch. Pan bagnat means bathed bread, and you want the bread to soak through and soften as it rests.
The quality of your olive oil defines this sandwich. Use one you would happily drink from a spoon. - 3
Layer the bottom half
On the bottom half of the bread, layer the tomato slices first, overlapping them slightly. Season with sea salt. The tomatoes release juice as they rest, which mingles with the oil and vinegar. Add the cucumber slices and bell pepper rings. Scatter the olives and capers over the vegetables.
- 4
Add the proteins
Break the drained tuna into large flakes and distribute evenly. Do not mash it into a paste. Layer the egg slices over the tuna. If using anchovies, drape them across the eggs now. Their brininess is traditional, and they melt into the sandwich as it rests.
- 5
Finish the filling
Scatter the paper-thin red onion over everything. Tear the basil leaves and tuck them into the layers. Season with black pepper. The onion will soften and lose its bite as the sandwich presses.
- 6
Close and press
Place the top half of bread firmly over the filling. Wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap, then again in aluminum foil. Set the wrapped sandwich on a plate and weight it down with a heavy skillet, a few cans, or a brick wrapped in a towel. The pressure is the point.
- 7
Rest and transform
Refrigerate the weighted sandwich for at least two hours. Overnight is better. The bread softens and compresses, the tomato juices and olive oil soak through, and all the flavors marry into something more than the sum of their parts. The sandwich improves the longer it sits, up to 24 hours.
This is not a sandwich you eat the moment you make it. The resting time is not optional. It is the technique. - 8
Unwrap and serve
Remove from refrigerator thirty minutes before eating if you prefer it closer to room temperature. Unwrap and slice into wedges if using a boule. The cross-section should reveal distinct layers of color: red tomato, pale egg, pink tuna, green basil. Serve with more olives alongside if you wish.
Chef Tips
- •Seek out olive oil-packed tuna from a Mediterranean producer. The texture is silkier and the flavor richer than water-packed. Your fishmonger or specialty grocer can help you find it.
- •Niçoise olives are small, dark, and deeply flavored. Kalamata works if you cannot find them, but the Niçoise are traditional and worth seeking.
- •Make this sandwich the night before a beach day or a long hike. It travels beautifully and only improves in your pack.
- •If summer tomatoes are not available, this sandwich can wait. A pale winter tomato will not give you what you need. The tomato is the heart of it.
Advance Preparation
- •The sandwich must rest at least 2 hours before serving. Plan for this.
- •Overnight resting produces the best results, with fully softened bread and deeply melded flavors.
- •Assembled and pressed, pan bagnat keeps refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Beyond that, the bread becomes too soft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 470g)
Calories
795 calories
Total Fat
44 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
32 g
Cholesterol
220 mg
Sodium
1590 mg
Total Carbohydrates
61 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
37 g
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