Pan Bagnat with Tuna
Serves 6
“Pan bagnat” comes from the ancient Provencal language, a dialect spoken in southeast France that’s more closely related to Latin than French. In its essence, a pan bagnat is a Niçoise salad sandwich — tuna, vinaigrette, olives, and greens on a hollowed-out roll. Inevitably, some of the sandwich’s filling falls out as it’s eaten; you’ll want an ample supply of napkins when your picnic includes pan bagnat.
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2 cloves garlic
1/4 pint extra virgin olive oil
1 baguette or 6 crusty white bread rolls
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
Crisp lettuce or curly endive leaves
3 ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 roasted red pepper
3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
4 canned anchovy fillets, drained
6 ounces canned tuna in oil, drained and flaked
12 black olives, stoned and halved
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1) Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a heavy knife and place in a clean jar with the olive oil. Cover jar and let stand for several hours or overnight, shaking the jar occasionally.
2) If the baguette is very long, halve it, then split each half horizontally. If using bread rolls, split into halves. Hollow out the bread a bit by remove some of the crumb from the inside. Brush each cut side generously with the garlic-infused oil.
3) Layer the filling ingredients onto the sandwich halves, beginning with the pepper or cucumber. Top with the olives. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and keep chilled until picnic time. If you’ve used a baguette, cut each half into 3 pieces before serving.
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