Vegetarian Pan-Bagnat Sandwich with Chickpeas, Pimientos & Basil Recipe

Do you know what a Pan-Bagnat sandwich is? It’s a sandwich that’s a specialty of the region of Nice, France. In general, it’s made by using a good quality roll, lots of veggies and a protein. Most often, folks use hard boiled eggs, anchovies or tuna for the protein and a wide variety of vegetables for the remainder of the filler. Peppers, pimientos, onion, various herbs, olives and many more. There are usually a few distinct ingredients that stand out from the rest, leaving the others as the bulk of the sandwich. It’s a wonderful meal and honestly, the sky is the limit when it comes to putting something like this together.

The Recipe

The stars of this recipe are definitely the pimientos and the basil. Those are the tastiest vegetables by far. And if I has to guess which stood out among those two, I’d say the basil. The recipe calls for 6 leaves per sandwich, which makes it a basil festival. Which is perfect, because I absolutely adore basil. Can’t get enough of the stuff.

A traditional pan-bagnat is made by carving out much of the fluffy part of a round whole wheat roll. When preparing this for more than one person, it’s acceptable to use a wide French bread. That’s what I did. Of course, I would have preferred the round roll simply because of its ability to encapsulate the ingredients, but since there was so much to put inside, I thought a larger bread was in order. While the French bread idea worked well, I think I’ll give the other style of roll a try next time, just for fun.

Be warned – this is another very filling sandwich. I would suggest preparing a side dish to go along with it because you’ll want leftovers. There’s nothing like looking inside the refrigerator the next day and having half of a huge sandwich in it waiting for you. Perhaps some steamed sweet potato or a barley salad. That would be perfect.

Again, I take my hat off to Paulette Mitchell for writing the cookbook called Vegetarian Sandwiches: Fresh Fillings for Slices, Pockets, Wraps & Rolls. This recipe was adapted from that book and I really can’t say enough good things about it. Healthy and well thought out recipes.

Ingredients

Serves: 2

For The Roll

2 6 Inch Round Rolls or 1 Wide Loaf of French Bread

For the Vinaigrette

2 Tablespoons of Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
1/2 Teaspoon Pub Style Mustard
1/2 Teaspoon White Sugar
Regular Table Salt
Ground Black Pepper

For the Filling

1/2 15.5 Ounce Can of Chickpeas, Rinsed
1/2 Cucumber, Peeled and Sliced
1/2 Green Bell Pepper, Seeded and Sliced
1 Cup Black Olives, Halved
2 Ounces of Pimientos, Sliced
4 Slices of Sweet Onion
2 Hard Boiled Eggs, Sliced (see instructions)
1 Large Tomato, Sliced
12 Medium Sized Fresh Basil Leaves
Regular Table Salt
Ground Black Pepper

Step-by-Step Instructions

The really wonderful thing about this recipe is that it’s low stress. I usually run around like crazy when I cook and last night, I was as smooth as butter. After I hard boiled the eggs, the cooking was finished. All that was left was prep work and assembly. I think I can get used to this type of thing.

Another benefit of making cold sandwiches for dinner is that you can toss the leftover ingredients into a large salad bowl. Since much of the recipe calls for “half” of the vegetables, and since you’re already cutting things up on the cutting board, it’s extremely easy to keep on cutting. No sense in storing these things in the refrigerator when you can enjoy a delicious salad with dinner.

Prepare the Bread

We’ll pretend that you’re using a loaf of French bread, like I did. First, cut the loaf in half so you’ve got two equal sized pieces, then cut those two pieces in half lengthwise. After that, carve out some of the interior of all the pieces. What you’re doing is creating space for the loads of vegetables you’ll be placing between the pieces. When finished, you should have four pieces of bread.

Prepare the Vinaigrette

In a small bowl, combine the 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, the 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, the 1/2 teaspoon of pub style mustard, the 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the Filling

In a medium sized bowl, add the 1/2 15.5 ounce can of chickpeas, the 1/2 cucumber, the 1/2 green bell pepper, the 1 cup of black olives and the 2 ounces of pimientos.

Go ahead and brush some of the vinaigrette dressing onto the interior of the bread. Add the leftover vinaigrette to the bowl of vegetable filling and toss well, coating all the vegetables.

Assemble the Sandwich

Arrange the bottoms of the rolls on two separate plates, then, take half of the filling and add it to one sandwich and the other half to the other sandwich.

After that, add the onion slices, the egg slices, the tomato slices and the basil leaves. Finally, add salt and pepper to taste.

When finished adding all the ingredients, place the other side of the bread on each sandwich, slice in half and enjoy.

The Final Sandwich

This is a legit sandwich. I was surprised that vegetables could be so filling. Since I took my own advice and made a nice side dish along with a salad, I can enjoy the leftovers today.

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