Quick ideas
Pan bagnat
This is a very good picnic sandwich – basically a salade Niçoise clapped inside a baguette, prepared ahead so the bread has time to marinate in the juices. The baguette could be replaced by thick slabs of country-style white bread. Add in any other fillers you fancy – slices of hard-boiled egg and radishes are both excellent.
Ingredients
- 1 baguette
- 1 garlic clove, halved
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 10-15 fresh basil leaves
- 1-2 tsp red wine vinegar
- 15 black olives, pitted and chopped
- 5-6 anchovy fillets, cut into 2cm lengths (optional)
- 1 red pepper, grilled and sliced (optional)
- few lettuce or rocket leaves
Method
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Step 1
Split the baguette in half lengthways. Rub each half with the garlic and brush with the olive oil. On one half, layer on the tomato slices, sliced onion and basil.
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Step 2
Trickle over the red wine vinegar and add salt and pepper. Scatter over the olives, anchovies and grilled pepper if using. Top with the green leaves, and cover with the other half of the baguette.
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Step 3
Press down hard on the sandwich to squash everything together.
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Step 4
Wrap in cling film or foil and put in the fridge, ideally with a weight on top to keep the sandwich compressed, for 30 minutes to several hours.
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Step 5
Cut into sections to serve.
