This summer, if you’re thinking of heading to the beach or a nice lunch at the park, then this modern version of Pan Bagnat recipe is going to be the perfect addition to your picnic basket. Fresh, filling and super flavorful, this classic Provençal sandwich holds delicious ingredients like oil packed tuna, fresh herbs, crisp green beans, briny artichoke hearts, hard-cooked eggs, olive tapenade and ripe tomatoes, drizzled with a lemony vinaigrette and held together between two slices of crusty country bread.
The best part about this pan bagnat sandwich (in my humble opinion) is that it doesn’t fall apart like a lot of stuffed sandwiches do. The ingredients are blended and layered in such a way that helps to make the sandwich resistant to spilling out and honestly, it’s a game changer! As with many recipes, this French tuna sandwich is even better the next day, when it’s had time to really marinate into the bread.
Right after college, I back packed through Europe with a friend of mine and the first country we visited was France. The sunny weather, the packed itinerary, and all that walking! It made for a very hungry traveler who was looking for tasty, portable options.
Enter pan bagnat, literally translating to “bathed bread”. It is essentially the sandwich version of the salade niçoise. I had picked one up from a local grocery not knowing the contents, and simply took it to a park and was blown away.
It was my first time tasting what Provençal cooking was all about, and its fresh seasonal ingredients were so amazingly simple but delicious.
Hailing from the south of France, Provençal cuisine focuses on using vibrant, contrasting flavors that are seasonal and high quality to form the bright and fresh tasting dishes we love, like salade niçoise and ratatouille. It’s anything but plain, and sometimes I want my food to be doing the most!
Choosing The Right Bread For Pan Bagnat
Some key takeaways from that moment were that you need to use crusty bread and it needs to be on the dry side, otherwise your sandwich will literally dissolve into mush. The Niçoise salad – style tuna salad is saturated with a bright herby vinaigrette, so the bread needs to withstand the moisture.
I recommend using a French crusty baguette (that’s what my sandwich used in France). It has the hard crust and chewy interior to stand right up to the filling.
In a pinch, ciabatta or a rustic artisan bread is a solid substitute (if you tap on the bread and it sounds hollow, it’s probably crusty enough).
Speaking of hollow, you will want to scoop out a little bit of the inner crumb to hold the tuna filling, but be careful not to scoop out so much that you are hitting crust. You need a little bit of bread in between to soak up all of the vinaigrette and the tomato juices.
Choosing The Right Tuna For Pan Bagnat
As with any recipe that calls for tuna as a main ingredient, I highly recommend using a tuna that is packed in olive oil for superior flavor.
Sure, water packed tuna can be used, and it is lighter in calories, but the flavor will not be as pronounced and the texture will be dryer than the nice, meaty slabs of oil packed tuna.
For high quality brands of chunk tuna packed in oil, I recommend using Ortiz or Wild Planet tuna. If you really want to splurge you can get a jar of Tonnino Tuna Fillets in Olive Oil.
Optional Ingredients
To give the pan bagnat a more modern twist, I added roasted red bell peppers, artichoke hearts and crispy green beans. The peppers add a nice sweetness while the artichoke hearts and the green beans add a variety of texture and freshness to the sandwich.
In addition to the basil and parsley, you can also experiment with other fresh herbs such as tarragon, chives and fresh thyme.
You can also try using fillets of firm grilled white fish for a delicious twist on this niçoise-style sandwich!
Pan Bagnat (French Tuna Salad Sandwich)
Ingredients
- 1 French baguette
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, cut in half
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- ½ red onion, sliced paper thin
- 6 oz olive oil-packed tuna
- 1 cup artichoke hearts, chopped roughly
- 1 cup basil leaves, torn
- 1 cup parsley, finely chopped
- ½ lemon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup each of Calvestrano olives, kalamata olives, and black olives
- 2 tbsp capers, chopped
- 2 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 large tomato, sliced
- ½ cup jarred roasted red peppers, sliced.
- 1 cup blanched green beans, chopped
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine the tuna, artichoke hearts, parsley, anchovy fillets, and lemon juice. Try not to over mix the tuna so it can retain some chunks. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Cut the baguette in half lengthwise and hollow out the bread slightly with your hands. Do not remove too much bread of the sandwich will fall apart.
- Rub the garlic clove over both halves of the bread and then drizzle with olive oil.
- In a bowl, mix the olives, capers, anchovy fillets, red wine vinegar and basil together.
- Spread 1/3 cup of the olive mixture onto both halves of the bread. On one half, lay down the sliced hard-boiled egg slices
- Add the tomato slices, green beans and roasted bell pepper on top of the eggs.
- Top with the tuna mixture and then close the sandwich.
- Wrap sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and then weigh it down with a heavy skillet or dutch oven on top of a cutting board.
- Let the sandwich "press" for 10 minutes before turning it over on the other side. Repeat the pressing process for another 10 minutes.
- Chill the sandwich in the fridge for at least 3 hours and up to overnight to let the flavors meld.
- To serve, cut the sandwich in half.