Pan Bagnat.

A specialty of Nice in the South Of France.

This is a fantastic dish and is very popular in Nice. It is a variation on a Nicoise Salad. You get what they call a soup bread bowl, cut off the top and scoop out the insides. Then you assemble all the ingredients for a salad nicoise ( recipe somewhere on this blog I think ) and you build your salad in this bread bowl; preferably french bread it is lighter than the sourdough. First you brush the inside of your bowl with pesto which is ground basil mixed with olive oil for this purpose, then you toss your greens in a garlic shallot dressing and place them in the bottom of the bowl.

Then you build the ingredients of the nicoise salad on top of the greens finishing with the tuna and the anchovies.

You can then eat your salad out of the bowl or place the lid on top, slice it down the middle and eat it like a sandwich.

Here are the basic ingredients you would use for a pan bagnat but I encourage you to use your imagination by using things like sprouts, raw mushrooms, radishes or anything else that takes your fancy.

Here are the most typically used ingredients:

Mixed greens

Hard boiled eggs quartered
Tomato quartered
Sliced cucumber
Scallions
Sliced sweet pepper ( red or green , very fresh )
Greek Olives,
Tuna
Anchovy
Capers
.
For the dressing:
red wine vinegar
cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard 2 garlic cloves, crushed
Mix to taste