table talk / By Bob Doran

Pan Bagna

Andrew Bonamici, a member of the Slow Food Eugene convivium, suggests goat cheese (Cypress Grove, of course). Bonamici, who has a whole webpage dedicated to pan bagna, notes that the people of Nice, France, take the sandwich quite seriously, claiming it as their own. They even have an organization, Commune Libre du Pan Bagnat: Association pour la Defence et la Promotion de l’Appelation Pan Bagnat, to defend and protect pan bagna. (They go with the pan bagnat spelling.)

Their recipe (in French) is close to the one Ms. David used, and, I suppose, not far from the one Diane used. We’ll close with Elizabeth’s take on pan bagna:

Elizabeth David’s recipe (from Mediterranean Cooking)

Pan Bagna (a Provençal sandwich)

“Cut fresh French rolls in half lengthways. Rub them with garlic. Spread with stoned black olives, pieces of red pimento, tomato and young raw broad [fava] beans. Pour on a little olive oil and vinegar over the rolls, join the two halves together and put them under a heavy weight for 30 minutes.

“Pan Bagna is served in Provençal cafés with a bottle of wine when a game of boules is in progress. (Boules is akin to the Italian’s bocce.] The ingredients vary according to what is in season, or what is available. There may be anchovies, gherkins [pickles], artichoke hearts, lettuce. Probably it is the origin of salade niçoise, which is made with the same variety of ingredients, but without the bread.”

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