A French Fast Food!
Pan bagnat or Pan bagna as it is sometimes called is one of the most popular fast foods you can buy in the south of France. Although the term fast food conjures up images of unhealthy foods, this is in fact a truly tasty and healthy snack! This delicious food is really the equivalent of taking a Salade Niçoise and making it into a quick and easy French fast food.
It consists of a crusty French roll, drenched in olive oil and packed with the fresh healthy ingredients you would find in a traditional Salade Niçoise, and believe me it is truly wonderful.
You will often see the local French people eating them whilst playing a game of French boules or pétanque, as it is such a great snack which you can take with you for such activities and it makes a great picnic food too.
For this recipe, you will need to use it as a guide and vary it according to how many people you need it for and which variety of salad vegetables you have available.
Variation
If you don't like anchovies you can use tuna instead or simply make a vegetarian version and leave out the fish.
However, the original version will of course include the anchovies.
Wondering What Petanque Is?
Petanque, pronounced "pay-tonk", one of Europe's most popular outdoor games, is a cousin of both horseshoes and of the Italian bowling game called 'bocce'. The game originated in the South of France in the early 1900's.
How To Store Pan Bagnat For A Picnic?
You can wrap them in cling film or foil and put in the refrigerator overnight and they will be ready for your picnic.
They seem to improve if left this way as the bread becomes soaked with the olive oil, which is how they should be as the name pan bagnat means wet bread! To some readers, especially those from North America, this may seem distasteful, but never pooh pooh an unfamiliar dish unless you have tried it. Ooh-la-la!
More French Recipes Like Fast Food
📖 Recipe
How To Make Pan Bagnat
Ingredients
- 4 bread rolls
- 2 firm tomatoes
- 4 radishes
- 1 green/yellow pepper
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 12 anchovy filets or 1 can of tuna
- 16 black olives
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 small onion
- 1 lemon
- olive oil
- salt
Instructions
- Slice the tomatoes, radish, and onions into thin rounds.
- Shell the hard-boiled eggs and cut them into rounds.
- Thinly slice the bell peppers into lengths.
- Slice olives into rounds.
- Dip the anchovies in freshwater to desalt them.
- Cut the bread rolls in half and remove the soft white middle from the centre of each half.
- Rub the inside with the garlic clove.
- Drench the inside with olive oil.
- Sprinkle lightly with salt.
- Finally, layer the inside of the bread roll with the sliced tomatoes, pepper, radish, onions, egg, olives, and finish with the anchovies.
- Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil.
Did you make this & like it or not, let us know?!