Pan bagnat


The pan bagnat is a sandwich that is a specialty of the Nice area. It is also a specialty food and street food of Nice, France. The sandwich is composed of pain de campagne, a whole wheat bread, enclosing the classic salade niçoise, a salad composed mainly of raw vegetables, hard boiled eggs, anchovies and/or tuna, and olive oil, salt, and pepper. Sometimes vinegar might be added. It has historically been prepared as a use for day-old bread.
The pan bagnat is a popular dish in the region around Nice where it is sold in most bakeries and markets. Pan bagnat and the salade niçoise, along with ratatouille, socca and pissaladière are strongly linked to the city of Nice, where they have been developed over time out of local ingredients. It is sometimes served as an hors d'oeuvre.

Etymology

The name of the sandwich comes from the local Provençal language, Nissart, in which pan banhat and the alternative spelling pan bagnat mean "bathed bread". It is often misspelled "pain bagnat", with the French pain rather than genuine local pan.

Preparation

Pan bagnat is prepared using bread or homemade bread that is generally round optionally rubbed with garlic, tuna, anchovies, sliced tomato, olives, olive oil salt and pepper. Additional ingredients to prepare the dish can include arugula, basil, artichoke, and red wine vinegar. The olive oil is typically used on the bread, which may be marinated or soaked in the oil and then strained off, hence the name "bathed bread". The garlic is sometimes used to rub the bread with.

File:Pain 001.JPG|Breads of pan bagnat
File:Pan-bagnat 1.jpg| Pan bagnat
Pans bagnats perso.jpg|Two pan bagnat.

Similar dishes

Pan bagnat is partly related to the muffuletta sandwich.