What I ate: Pan Bagnat - Le French Tuna Salad Sandwich

This recipe popped right off the page as Jack and I were searching for a Nicoise Salad refresher on -what else? food52. GASP! (I know, a novel idea). Honestly though, once we skimmed the recipe there was no way we could go back to our day-to-day lives without trying it out. So, we did the only thing that made sense - we made a midnight run out to the grocery store to collect the missing ingredients in anticipation of dinner the next night. 

Oh. Have I not mentioned that my favourite time to peruse recipes is late at night? 

It's the best way to make yourself snack right before bed. Try it. 

I had never heard of Pan Bagnat before but was amazed at how simple the majority of the ingredients were and how well they all mixed up together.

We began by cutting our GIANT loaf of french bread in half, removing the insides of one side to create a trough where the delicious filling will would eventually go.

Next, the veggies were diced, sliced and prepped. 

This is always the part where Jack and I begin to differ. 

He prefers big chunks of vegetable whereas I like to keep everything teeny tiny.

We compromised. 

The beans stayed chunky, the onions got diced and the rest were in-between. 

Upon reading the ingredients I would be including I knew this would be delicious.
What I didn't realize was how beautifully all vegetables would look when mixed in together with the tuna. Part of me didn't even want to eat the sandwich so I could spend a little more time looking at the filling.

Although we went to two different super markets, we could not find any basil.

(My guess is someone in the area was busy getting ready for a homemade pesto festival.)

Without the basil, the sandwich was fantastic. The flavours layered and complemented each other incredibly well - I can only imagine what the basil would have added.

Luckily, we'll definitely be making this one again so I won't have to imagine for long.

Notes:

I would definitely recommend to dice the onions 

so the flavour they add is subtle rather than overwhelming.

I only added half of the vinaigrette and didn't notice anything missing 

(although I suppose I don't really have a frame of reference).

The recipe suggests wrapping the sandwich and refrigerating it overnight, with a weight set on top. We had no intention of waiting that long and only lasted 15 minutes.
It was still perfectly delicious.

Don't eat all the bread filling you've picked out while waiting on your sandwich to be ready

...you'll end up really full.