A Salade Niçoise as a Sandwich

My favorite sandwich to make in the summertime is Pan Bagnat. It is a classic of southern France, and you’ll find it there, especially in Provence, come the season.

It’s also prototypical picnic food. It has to be, because it must be prepared hours in advance (even if you were to enjoy it at your dining room table).

My recipe for you on this site has evolved over many years, with input or emendation from several sources: from my Belgian-born mother; from a presentation by Patricia Wells, a favorite writer on both Paris and Provence (the region of France where this recipe originated); from longtime Denver chef Sean Kelly; and from Julia Child during a lunch break at a meeting of a board on which we both had served in the 1990s. She was bored; I was bored; we talked food of southern France.

“Pan Bagnat” is its name in Occitan, the ancient language of southern France, including those regions that we now know as Provence and Languedoc. Indeed, in English, Languedoc itself means “the Language of Oc,” where the word “oc” signifies “yes,” as distinct from “oui” for “yes” in northern France. In Occitan, Pan Bagnat roughly translates as “bathed (or soaked, or wet) bread.”

It essentially is a Salade Niçoise in a loaf of bread. The “wet” part comes from holding the loaf overnight, wrapped tightly and weighted down, so that the liquid from the dressing and ingredients soaks partially through it.

The loaf is then sliced at an angle and served as individual sandwiches. It’s the perfect example of the best of summer or picnic food—prepared indoors in the cool of the day and ahead of time.

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