Pan Bagnat

My one and only beach sandwich. This is the one you'll find everywhere in the South of France, and for good reason: it screams summer like nothing else I know.

When I was a kid and we went to the beach as a family, lunch meant one of two things: homemade tuna pasta salad, or a pan bagnat from the bakery for everyone. What a memory.

This one is made by the book. No mayo here - everything is generously seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper instead. And honestly, it's perfection. Generous yet balanced, with a whole parade of vegetables - the essence of Mediterranean spirit.

Pan Bagnat – About the Dish

Pan bagnat literally means "bathed bread" in Niçois, the old dialect of Nice - and that's exactly the point. Day-old bread is split open and thoroughly soaked in olive oil, garlic and ripe tomato before being piled with vegetables. It's less a sandwich in the usual sense and more a salade niçoise you can hold in one hand, born out of a very practical need: something farmers and fishermen could pack in the morning that would only get better by lunchtime, once the bread had a few hours to soak everything in.

Nice takes its pan bagnat seriously enough that there's an actual charter spelling out what does and doesn't belong in one - mayo is a hard no, and so, technically, is cooked ham. What you will find in pretty much every version: tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, tuna or anchovies (often both), and a generous hand with the olive oil. Everything else - the peppers, the celery, the radishes - is where cooks let their own habits show, mine included.

Pan Bagnat – Recipe

Ingredients – Advice & where to find them

• Bread: look for a small round loaf made specifically for pan bagnat, not too small. In the north of France, a "faluche" roll works just as well.
• Tomatoes: use the ripest one you can find for soaking the bread.
• Green pepper & celery: the most dispensable of the lot to my taste - they bring a nice bitterness, but leave them out if you're short on time or not a fan.
• Radishes & spring onions: they add peppery crunch, so don't skip them if you can help it.
• Tuna: a good quality tuna in olive oil makes a real difference here, since it's barely dressed.
• Anchovy fillets: go for whole fillets in oil rather than paste - they're doing a lot of the seasoning work.
• Black olives: small, briny Nice olives are the traditional choice, but any tasty black olives will do.
• Basil: fresh only, torn in at the last minute so it stays bright.

Cooking Tips

• Skip the mayo entirely - this isn't that kind of sandwich. Everything is seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper instead.
• Press, don't drown - pressing the ripe tomato directly onto the bread hydrates it without making it soggy.
• Salt every layer lightly as you go, rather than dumping it all on top at the end - it seasons the vegetables individually and keeps the sandwich from tasting flat.
• Don't overdo the tuna - a little goes a long way once anchovies, olives and eggs are also in the mix.
• Give it time if you can - 30 minutes in the fridge lets the flavors meld and the bread soak up the juices, though pan bagnat is just as good eaten right away -especially if you're not using day old bread.
• Wrap and press before serving - wrapping it tightly and pressing down gently helps it hold together when you cut it.

Ten minutes of prep, zero cooking, and a sandwich that tastes like a beach holiday. Bon appétit!