As Spring continues to recede into the future (38 degrees and howling west wind today) I have time to prepare good things to eat for supper.
Tonight I made Pan Bagna. Pan Bagna is a sandwich of the Provence region of southern France. The recipe I use comes from our recipe folder and it’s written in Debbie’s hand. I don’t know the origin of the recipe or how authentic it may be. It’s so tasty I don’t really care.
Pan Bagna
Makes 4 servings
Vinaigrette
1/2 cup olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
1 t prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk all ingredients together and set aside
Ingredients
1 round loaf of bread
2 cans (approximately 5 oz each) tuna in oil
1/2 c sliced sweet onion
1/2 c diced celery
1 c diced tomatoes (cherry or grape tomatoes cut into quarters work nice when it’s not fresh tomato season)
1/4 c diced black and green onions (all green or all black is fine too)
1 garlic clove, minced (a few cloves of roasted garlic instead is really nice too)
4 anchovy fillets (to taste, you can omit if you’re not an anchovy fan, or even add more if you like)
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/4 c fresh basil leaves (I use a couple of my frozen cubes of basil and oil)
Procedure
Slice bread in half horizontally. Scoop out some of the bread from the top and bottom, leaving 3/4’s of an inch or so. (feed the bread crumbs to your chickens)
Mix the tuna (don’t drain it), onion, celery, tomatoes, olives, and garlic in a bowl. Stir in about 2/3’s of the vinaigrette.
Pile the tuna mixture on the bottom half of the bread. Top with the eggs and anchovies if using. Top with basil.
Drizzle the rest of the vinaigrette over the top piece of bread and place it on top of the tuna mixture.
Wrap the loaf in plastic wrap and then foil.
Place a heavy skillet on top and add heavy cans for weight.
Let it sit for 30 minutes before serving.
The pictures are a little fuzzy. One of these days I’m going to get that camera manual out and read it.
 |
All the fillings are piled on the bottom and the basil is smeared on the top. |
 |
I’m pressing it with my chicken frying skillet that weighs 6 1/2 pounds (yes, I know how much my skillets weigh. Don’t you?) and I have about 8 pounds of cans too. While it’s pressing you want to keep half an eye on it, it will press faster on one side or the other and if you don’t shift the cans they’ll tumble off with spectacular crash sooner or later. |
 |
After pressing the filling is tightly packed together and the vinaigrette has oozed into the bread. Yum! |
Leave a Reply