Pan bagnat
The name in Niçois dialect means wet bread — and that is the whole idea: salade niçoise stuffed into a round bun, soaked with olive oil and pressed for two hours. The bread takes up the tomato juice and oil, and the filling compacts into a solid whole that does not fall apart as you eat. Food of fishermen and workers, carried to the beach in paper. Pressing is not optional — without it, it is just a sandwich.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Vegetables 10 min
- Assembly 10 min
- Pressing 120 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneHollow out some of the crumb
Halve the buns and pull out some of the crumb from the top halves with your fingers. This makes room for the filling, and the crust with a thin layer of crumb takes up the oil without going to mush.
Ingredients: 4 pcs round buns · 1 clove garlic · 80 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar
Some crumb out — room for the filling.Rub with garlic and soak with oil
Rub the cut faces with a halved garlic clove, then drizzle generously with half the oil mixed with the vinegar. Pan bagnat is wet bread — there should be plenty of oil, as it carries the whole flavour.
Ingredients: 4 pcs round buns · 1 clove garlic · 80 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar
Salt and drain the tomatoes
Slice the tomatoes, salt them and leave 10 minutes in a sieve. They release juice — some runs away and the rest soaks into the bread during pressing. Undrained, they turn the bun to pulp.
Ingredients: 240 g tuna in oil · 3 pcs hard-boiled eggs · 2 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs green pepper · 6 pcs radishes · ½ pcs red onion · 60 g Niçoise olives · 8 pcs anchovy fillets · 12 pcs basil · 1 pinch salt
Slice the vegetables thin
Slice the pepper, radishes and onion very thinly and the eggs into rounds. Thin layers press well and do not push out the filling, while a thick slice of pepper tears the bun as you bite.
Ingredients: 240 g tuna in oil · 3 pcs hard-boiled eggs · 2 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs green pepper · 6 pcs radishes · ½ pcs red onion · 60 g Niçoise olives · 8 pcs anchovy fillets · 12 pcs basil · 1 pinch salt
Layer on the bottom half
On the bottom half lay in turn the tomatoes, pepper, onion, tuna, eggs, radishes, olives, anchovies and basil. Wet vegetables at the bottom, near the bread that will absorb them; dry ones on top.
Ingredients: 240 g tuna in oil · 3 pcs hard-boiled eggs · 2 pcs tomatoes · 1 pcs green pepper · 6 pcs radishes · ½ pcs red onion · 60 g Niçoise olives · 8 pcs anchovy fillets · 12 pcs basil · 1 pinch salt
Wet at the bottom, dry on top — the bread drinks the juice.Drizzle with the rest of the oil and close
Drizzle the filling with the remaining oil, cover with the top half and press down hard with your palms. Wrap each sandwich tightly in cling film or baking paper.
Ingredients: 4 pcs round buns · 1 clove garlic · 80 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar
Press two hours under a weight
Set the sandwiches on a tray, cover with a board and weigh down with a pot or jars for 2 hours in the fridge. The bread absorbs the oil and juice and the filling compacts. Unpressed, pan bagnat falls apart in your hands.
Ingredients: 4 pcs round buns · 1 clove garlic · 80 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar
Two hours under weight — only then is it pan bagnat.Serve at room temperature
Take out half an hour before eating and serve in paper, at room temperature. In Nice pan bagnat is eaten on the beach, at the port or on the road — a sandwich made for travelling.
Ingredients: 4 pcs round buns · 1 clove garlic · 80 ml olive oil · 1 tbsp wine vinegar
Before you start
No lettuce, no mayonnaise
The Niçois are firm on this: pan bagnat has no lettuce, which wilts, no mayonnaise, no cooked potatoes or beans. Only raw vegetables, tuna, egg, anchovy and olive oil. Any addition makes a different sandwich.
The bun must be crusty
The traditional pan bagnat bun is round, with a crisp crust and dense crumb. A soft burger bun collapses after an hour of soaking. A good round bakery bun or a small ciabatta works best.
A day in the fridge
Pan bagnat is one of the few sandwiches that tastes better after a few hours than at once. It keeps until the next day in the fridge, wrapped in film. Perfect picnic and travel food.
