Friday, April 27, 2007

Sandwich Week! Day Four

Today's sandwich is......


Pan Bagna.

The literal translation of the name of this French sandwich is "Bathed Bread" and it's easy to see why. Instead of using butter or margarine or mayonnaise, the sandwich is "bathed" in olive oil to flavor and moisten. There is some debate over what constitutes a "real" Pan Bagna; some say it must contain tuna and nicoise olives (practically a Nicoise Salad on bread), others say that the dressing is what makes it a Pan Bagna, that the ingredients you put inside are not as important. I say as long as it tastes good, that's all that matters!

My Pan Bagna is what it is because of 3 factors:
1. I had a small loaf of whole wheat french bread that was going to go stale,
2. I had a crapload of tomatos I needed to use up, and
3. I don't like tuna unless it's mixed with mayonnaise or in sushi.

I sliced 2 tomatos and half of a red onion thinly. I cut a big handful of large pitted green olives (also needed to be used up asap) in quarters and threw them all in a bowl. In a smaller bowl I made a vinaigrette of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a pinch of sugar and some pepper. I poured that over the veggies and let them sit for 10 minutes. Cut the loaf of bread in half horizontally. Spoon the vegetables over the bottom half of the loaf. Spoon all the dressing (or as much as you want to use; this is not a dry sandwich) over the bottom and top of the bread.
Place the top half of the loaf back on the bottom and press down gently. Wrap the sandwich tightly in saran wrap and let sit for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours. Remember, the longer you let it sit, the wetter it will be.
Unwrap the sandwich and cut into thick wedges to serve.
This one only sat about 20 minutes - we were too hungry to wait any longer!


Daily Question - How often do you eat sandwiches?

Trivia Question 4 - Tomatos are referred to as a vegetable, but they are really a fruit. What is the difference between a fruit and a vegetable?

7 comments:

Morgan said...

Not that often, actually. When I cook dinner, I tend to cook meals for 4-6, so we have leftovers. I'd say once or twice a month I will buy sandwich fixings, and then we have them for a couple of days in a row.

Lis said...

It always different.. some weeks we'll eat sammiches every day for work and then we could go literally MONTHS without eating them.. also once in a blue moon we'll make sub sammiches for dinner. Now if you could hamburgers as sammiches, and I guess that technically they are, then we eat those probably twice a month. =)

Question for you, missie! How many tomatoes in a "crapload"? BAHAHAHAHAA!

Every one of your sammiches have look so damn good, by the way!

xoxo

Anonymous said...

I couldn't resist - I had to get in on the fun.

Mel's Diner

Mike

Sara said...

I'm kinda surprised, I bet we eat sandwiches at least once a week, most weeks.

Brilynn said...

Usually not too much, but lately more so. I'd say about 2 or 3 a weeek right now, but usually not nearly that much.

Morgan said...

John's on this Bread Is Bad kick, and it's not worth my energy to fight it. To me, sandwhiches are a lunch thing and if instead I had to eat yesterday's lunch (chicken thigh curry over brown basmati rice) I'm okay with it.

Anonymous said...

Your sandwiches do look v. yummy!
I used to only eat them twice or three times a month, but I think I am converted! And I thought the difference between fruit and vegetables was that the seeds are in the middle in fruits. (?)