Pan-Bagnat: A rather extravagant sandwich - 2 hours to prepare, but worth it!

Confession time! I saw this recipe in a magazine and decide I'd embark upon it for lunch. This decision was made at about 11 o'clock. I'm not one for reading recipes from start to finish before I start, and it was only when I started it, I realised it was more likely going to be ready for tea time rather than lunch!!

So, warning for you....should you wish to make this (and I highly recommend it), make it the day before you need it and fridge it until the chosen point!

The recipe is based on a french dish called Pan-Bagnat. It's essentially a hollowed out loaf, filled with roasted vegetables and cheese and pressed in the fridge for several hours. This allows the flavours and juices to be absorbed by the bread and sliced in lovely chunks for a healthy, tasty lunch-time meal.

It's a great picnic dish and I think best served for crowds, this much effort invested in a sandwich deserves to be shared!

The key ingredients here are a decent loaf (I favour a multi-grain one as I think it holds the shape better) and fresh vegetables. Don't follow the ingredients too slavishly - if there is something you don't like just swap it for more of something you do!

....feedahappylife's selection of vegetables....

...preferred bread...

Pan-Bagnat (serves 4)

• 1 red pepper, quartered
• 1 yellow pepper, quartered
• 1 large courgette, sliced
• 2 portabella mushrooms, halved
• 1 aubergine, sliced length ways
• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• Handful basil leaves, torn
• Large, round, crusty loaf
• 3 tbsp caper puree (or olive tapenade or pesto)
• 125g mozzarella, drained and sliced
• Seasoning

Step 1: Place vegetables in a single layer, pour over a good glug of oil and grill for 10 minutes (turning half way through). You might need to do this a few times to get through all of the vegetables

Step 2: Make the dressing by mixing half the basil, a glug of oil, a glug of vinegar, seasoning and the crushed garlic in a large bowl. Stir together to combine and add the roasted vegetables to the boil and toss gently. Leave vegetables to cool.

Step 3: Slice of the bread 'lid' and remove all of the inner bread (leave a 1 cm shell). I keep the inner bread, shred and freeze for breadcrumbs for other dishes...

Step 4: Cover the inside of your bread with your choice of paste

Step 5: Take the cooled vegetables and squeeze them dry between sheets of kitchen roll (this is really important and will stop your bread going soggy). Slice the mushroom halves and put to one side.

Step 6: Layer up your cooled vegetables and press firmly into the bread. Alternative vegetables with mozzarella slices and torn basil leaves. Leave the mushrooms until last and add to the top.

Step 7: Place the lid back on the bread and wrap tightly in cling film. Place the bread between two plates and weight down with tins for two hours in the fridge

Step 8: Remove cling-film, cut into slices and serve

Hope you enjoy,
Helen x

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Sexy Sides!

Some may say that writing an entry tenuously linking food and, ahem, sex is a blatant attempt to get more people to find my page in google....you may be right but go with me a little.....

I think the way people react to food is a very personal thing. Some people get giddy over chocolate, some weep for cheese and some hanker for a nice, juicy steak over all else. I think I'm still finding my true food love but there are certainly some things that fill my head, heart and tummy with happiness.

There are foods that make me smile (soft piles of marshmallows), some that provide comforting warmth (silky, smooth risottos) and some that make me want to feel the sun on my skin, reach for the wine glass and laugh uncontrollably with loved ones. It's this food that I think of as sexy food.

My requirements for sexy food are quite specific:

1. It must promise pleasure on the plate
2. It's flavours must surprise
3. It's textures must interest
4. It must be light in the mouth and light in the tummy
5. It must inspire thoughts of summer
6. It must take very little effort and not detract from all the fun that will ensue

A hard task! However, I'm not prescriptive on what course this applies to. It could as easily be an elderflower granita for dessert as a whole, roasted sea bream for main. So, here I share a few of the side dishes I consider to meet the bill:

• Roasted red pepper, goats cheese, walnut and honey
• Baked fennel, stuffed with orange and feta breadcrumbs

It was only after a little research that I realised there may be a little bit more in the appeal of these dishes than meets the eye! Both fennel and honey are natural aphrodisiacs, popularised by the Egyptians. Well.... if it was good enough for Cleopatra.....

Red Pepper, Goats Cheese Walnut and Honey Salad (serves 2)

2 long red peppers

2 handfuls of large walnuts

100g soft, crumbly goats cheese

2 tablespoons best honery

seasoning

salad leaves (to serve)

Step 1: Halve and deseed peppers

Step 2: Place peppers on a lightly oiled baking tray and bake in the oven (160c) for 10-15 minutes until softening

Step 3: Sprinkle goats cheese and walnuts over the peppers and roast for 10 minutes (careful the walnuts don't burn)

Step 4: Remove from the oven, season lightly and serve warm drizzled with honey

Baked fennel, stuffed with orange and feta breadcrumbs (serves 2)

 
2 fennel bulbs
olive oil
1 orange
50g feta
100g dried breadcrumbs
seasoning
orange slices (to serve - optional)
 
Step 1: Halve the bulbs and remove the core to create a sort of fennel bowl

 

 
Step 2: Drizzle over oil, season, cover with foil and roast for 15 mins (160c)
 
Step 3: Whislt roasting, zest and juice the orange. Mix zest, half the juice, feta, glug of oil and breadcrumbs together to make a fragrant, mouldable stuffing (if it's too dry, add more juice/oil). Season to taste.
 
Step 4: Remove the foil from the fennel and press the stuffing into the bulb cavity. Roast for 15 minutes until the stuffing is golden and crispy.
 
Step 5: Serve with slices of orange
 
I've reverting to type with my next post.... the waist-expanding delights of Pavlova Supernova!
Helen x

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