Pan Bagnat

I have huge sympathy for Elizabeth David's disgust at inauthenticity: I am reminded of her remarks about so-called Quiche Lorraine every time I spot a revolting cheese-laden variety in supermarkets that really should know better. There is a case to be made for requiring chefs and supermarkets not to use the names of classic dishes for something (usually) inferior and always fundamentally different.

That said, I am guilty of the same thing. My Aloo Chat bears no relation to the dish, says my friend Nina. And nor, I suspect, does my Pan Bagnat. Pan Bagnat, in the Provençal dialect of Niçard, means “wet bread”. However, the first word is often misspelled “pain" - correct French, but incorrect Niçard. Traditionally, it is supposed to consist of raw vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, anchovies and/or tuna, olive oil, salt and pepper (never mayonnaise) and sometimes a little vinegar, in a day old pain de campagne. Coming from Niçe, it is, I suppose, a Salade Niçoise in bread.

My version is far from traditional and I fear Elizabeth David would have called it an abomination: I use baguette rather than pain de campagne; inside, there are no fish to be found, no raw vegetables. The bread filling probably comes closer to another local dish, Ratatouille, than to Salade Niçoise. Perhaps all that can be said is that at least the bread is, in accordance with its name, wet or bathed: these are not crisp salad vegetables but cooked, cooled and soaked in olive oil. This is perfect beach food. The bread is moistened by the olive oil and tomato juices. As lunch, it lacks the dryness of the saucisson to which I became accustomed as a child and which perhaps curbed some of my more carnivorous instincts.

INGREDIENTS

4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced

2 red peppers, thinly sliced

2 large onions, thinly sliced

Clove of garlic, crushed

Olive oil - for cooking and for making the sandwich.

Sea salt.

Possibly some herbes de Provence. But not essential.

Day old baguette.

METHOD

Heat olive oil slowly in a frying pan. Add the onions. Soften. Add the peppers and the tomatoes and allow to cook very very slowly on the lowest possible heat. Add a whisper of herbes de Provence and some sea salt. Add more oil and maybe a tiny amount of water if you are in danger of drying up. You should end up with little liquid. Allow to cool. Split the baguette, drizzle olive oil from its head to its toe and fill with the cooked vegetables. Then wrap in cling film and weigh down in the fridge. Cut and eat.